The Lone Wolf and the Princess of Pop
by Jelotto
Summary: Yamato Ishida is an aspiring rockstar still trying to make it big. That all changes when he meets pop star Mimi Tachikawa, who takes him on a ride of fame, music, and love. Mimato
1. The Lone Wolf

**Hey what's up everyone?**

**After feeling inspired I decided to write my second fanfiction story dedicated to every person with a guitar who dreams of becoming rich and famous with it one day!**

**Hope you like**

**Please review I'm not sure how all this is going to go (story still materializing in my mind)**

**I don't own anything**

**Btw I'm using character's english names because that's what all the characters are going to address each other as**

____________________________________________________________________________

It was night when he finally got home, probably a little after midnight. He opened the door to the mansion where he lived, an acoustic guitar in its case held in his left hand and an electric one slung over his back. He turned on a light and blinked at the brightness. He looked round the large well-decorated atrium now lit by an elegant crystal chandelier. He looked down and saw his own reflection in the polished marble floor below him. He adjusted some of the long dirty blond hair which had gotten out of place and placed it behind his ear. He heard someone stirring up stairs. Soon after a slim woman walked out in a bathrobe. Her long red hair was still wet from a shower.

"Hi Matt," she greeted, "How'd it go?"

"Not bad, I guess," he remarked, "I think our sound guy turned down my singing too much again. But the rest sounded pretty good."

"Did you get to do an encore?" She asked.

" I thought about it but I didn't think the crowd was giving us enough energy to do one." He answered, "Which is a little disappointing I wanted to pull out the new song I wrote."

"Aww…" She said sympathetically "I'm sure you'll get to do it next time."

She smiled at him. Matt gave a weaker smile in reply.

"I sure hope so…" he said.

"Hey Sora, where'd you put my shampoo?" asked another voice from upstairs.

Out came a man also in a bathrobe. He was well built and his well-defined legs were clearly visible underneath the bathrobe. His coarse brown hair was not wet but it looked like it could use some conditioner; it was wild and stuck out in almost every direction.

"I put it on the counter Tai!" Said the woman back to the man in the bathrobe.

"Oh, okay." Tai said. After that he walked up to Sora, wrapped his arms around her and gave her a peck on the cheek. Then he turned to Matt who had just walked in.

"Hey buddy," He said, " You have a killer gig? Were the girls screaming'?"

"Haha, yeah some of them," replied Matt " It was a pretty average gig, not too awful, but nothing spectacular."

" Alright cool." Said Tai, " Well Sora and I are going to bed. G'night Matt!"

With that the Tai and Sora walked off.

"You'd better not have taken all the hot water!" Matt heard Tai say.

Matt walked down a hallway to his room. He dropped his guitars on top of the mess of clothing, music sheets, magazines, and other random crap. He decided he needed something to drink. In the kitchen Matt walked over to the full bar set up on the sidewall. He took a few bottles and mixed himself a cup of peach vodka. He took a sip and swallowed deeply enjoying the feel of the cool liquid flowing down his throat. Matt turned around in his bar stool back against the counter of the bar.

He looked at the wall with various pictures and things on it. One of the framed papers was an article. It read "Tokyo U Star Taichi Kamiya leads team to World Cup Playoff Spot". Matt remembered when that happened. Tai had gotten a spot in the practice squad for Japan's World Cup Soccer Team his senior year at college. Through a series of events Tai had gotten to play in one of the key games for Japan. He scored a goal in the last minute to tie the game, then kicked the winning goal in overtime. Ever since then Tai had become a huge soccer star especially in Japan. There wasn't a day that went by when someone didn't come up to Tai to ask for his autograph.

Matt's gaze shifted over to a green patterned dress that hung next to the article on the wall. That dress had been one of the first designs Sora had come up with. That dress along with a couple of other designs had given Sora her first break in the high world of fashion design. Sora then climbed higher in the world of fashion till becoming a household name in just about every fashion magazine. She had columns in various different clothing magazines and had her own line of name brand items. The name brand? "Soar" of course.

Then Matt looked at one of the most prominent photos on the wall. It was a near life-sized photo of Tai and Sora. Sora was in an elegant white wedding dress and Tai was wearing a tux with a dark blue vest and bow tie. They held up the backs of their left hands. Both hands had a diamond wedding ring on the ring finger. The marriage of Tai, a soccer star, and Sora, a high class fashion designer, made the two of them huge celebrities, even bigger than they had been on their own. Matt remembered the wedding had been a huge media event. He had been the best man and one of his jobs was to keep the paparazzi from getting to see Tai or Sora while they were getting ready. They were in celebrity magazines on an almost constant basis. Photographers from tabloids also almost always were stalking around their estate.

The photo made Matt a little nostalgic of when Sora and he were going out. But he was happy for Tai and Sora, they really were meant for one another. Matt was just sad that he hadn't found someone for himself. Sora was the last serious relationship he'd had, and that was back in high school. Since then he'd just had flings and relationships that just ended up being friendships.

Matt took one last gulp of the drink in front of him and decided he'd better get to bed. He walked down the hall to his bed. There were more photos and papers denoting Sora and Tai's various achievements. It made Matt a little sad that he didn't have the great success that it seemed everyone around him had. Hell, even his brother was a rising writer who already had some acclaim. He had been voted most likely to become rich and famous in high school; what had happened? Matt walked into his room and made his way through the mess of amps and guitar equipment to his bed. He lay there and his body finally realized how tired he was. He quickly fell into a deep sleep.

____________________________________________________________________________

Tai had just taken a shower. His hair, which usually stuck up adding greatly to his height, now hung down to past his shoulders. He climbed into bed with his wife, Sora, who was scribbling something in a sketchbook.

"Hey, lemme see!" demanded Tai, reaching for the notebook.

"No!" Snapped Sora shutting the book, "You'll get to see it when it's ready!"

" Geez! I'm married to you and I still don't get to see your work? What do I have to do?"

"How bout mind your own business. Besides you didn't just marry me so you could see my designs before they came out right?"

"Yeah…" Tai admitted kissing Sora on the forehead. Sora in response put an arm around him.

"Have you noticed something different about Matt lately?" asked Sora.

"What do you mean?" Tai asked in response.

"I don't know exactly. But he just seems kinda sad. I notice he's been using more stuff from our bar too."

"Yeah, now that I think about it you may be right. He used to be a lot more excited when he'd come back from gigs. Now he's pretty indifferent. It's like he's frustrated things aren't going well."

"Well he might be getting frustrated that his band still hasn't made it still. As soon as we got out of high school we all thought Matt's band was gonna hit it big. They auditioned for that one record label and didn't get it. They said they didn't like Matt's singing and his lyrics were boring."

"Oh, yeah he got real broken up about it. He said he was gonna prove them wrong."

"But it's been like six years since then and Matt hasn't gotten a record deal or more than a local fan following."

Tai nodded.

"It's probably getting to him finally. That they might have been right."

"Something else happened yesterday. He wanted to pay us rent for wanting to stay here. He's never done that before in the year that he's lived with us. He said he felt guilty about mooching off of us."

"You told him it's not like that right? He's no burden we have more than enough money and stuff as it is. Besides he's like the best friend we have!"

"I told him that, but I think he feels like he needs to validate himself somehow. You know how men need to be able to provide for themselves and their family."

"Yeah, I do. I hope he knows he's not an obligation. He's our friend we're happy to have him around."

"I hope he gets his big break soon. I remember when I was still trying to get myself going in the fashion business. It's hard to get by until you're a big star. He probably feels bad having to stay with us for so long. When he first came he said he'd only be with us for a few months at the most."

"I hope he does too. I know he may not be the best singer or lyricist but he's an awesome guitarist. He works real hard too."

"He sure does I hear him playing like all day sometimes trying to write songs."

"Ha yeah it's a good thing we don't have neighbors or they'd complain."

"Tai they'd complain anyway cuz of the crazy stuff you're always doing!"

"I don't even know what you're talking about."

"Pretty sure neighbors would have gotten upset if they found out you were trying to learn to fly a helicopter in the back yard! Alright Tai, Let's go to sleep I have to go into the studio tomorrow morning."

"Hey that helicopter thing didn't go so badly!" Tai tried to say in his defense, "Sure you wouldn't want to change into something more… comfortable before you go to sleep?"

A sly smile crept onto Tai's face.

"Oh, not tonight, Tai." Sora said turning out the light.

"All right…" said Tai not fully believing her. But he put his hands behind his head and went to sleep. Soon all was quiet in the Kamiya mansion.

____________________________________________________________________________

**Well what'd you think of that? I'm really interested to know.**

**As with my other writing feel free to point out errors it annoys me as much as you.**

**Hopefully you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! (which I think would be difficult I had so much fun writing this. I wrote it all in one sitting typing furiously. But if you did that's great! Tell me!)**


	2. The Princess of Pop

**More of Matt's quest to become a rockstar!**

**I don't own any of this except the story itself**

**Please review!**

**Here we go:**

________________________________________________________________

Matt opened his eyes, the sun was shining through the blinds in his room. With some effort he rolled over to check the time, 1:34. He was waking up about when he normally did. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair. It was a bit too greasy for his liking he'd need a shower. He sat up and took stock of all the stuff cluttering the floor of his room. He rooted through some of it hoping to find some clothes. He found a pair of sweats and a wife-beater that would be sufficient for a trip to the bathroom.

Outside Tai was directing the maids the Kamiya Mansion in putting up decorations and moving various furniture.

"Party Tai?" asked Matt familiar with this fairly regular routine.

"Yeah, our midfielder Takuya Kanbara got engaged to this girl Zoe or something? Anyway were throwing them an engagement party." Tai replied.

"Oh Zoe Orimoto? Wasn't she in that group Zephyr Roses?"

"I don't really know. You'd know better than me, because you're into music."

"Hmmm maybe some big names in the music world will show up," Matt muttered to himself, "Hey Tai?"

"Yeah? What's up?" Tai asked Matt

"No wait til Sora get's here to put that stuff up." Tai said to one of the maids.

"Could we play some of my music at the party, on the off chance some producer or something comes?" Matt asked.

"Sure Matt, anything for you buddy." Tai replied giving one of his now trademarked smiles.

"Thanks!" said Matt heading for the bathroom.

________________________________________________________________

Matt was used to the parties that Tai and Sora threw as they happened so often. At first he was a little intimidated by all the famous people who would show up but soon got to enjoy mingling with them. A lot of people would give their right arm to be there. Sure some of them were jerks but a lot of them were really nice.

Who Matt really wanted to meet was a famous musician or producer to help him with his music career. This might be a good opportunity. Matt checked up on Zoe Orimoto and she had indeed been in Zephyr Roses, a female pop group. Maybe some of her friends from the music world would be there.

Matt checked himself in the mirror. He had on dark colored jeans, a black button down t-shirt untucked with the sleeves rolled up to just before the elbow, and a loose fitting blue patterned tie. His hair was flowed freely in blond and light brown strands. Matt felt his appearance was just right, clean but not too structured.

"How do I look?" he asked Sora walking out of the his room.

"Mmmm," She said nodding in approval "Nice, very Matt-ish."

"Yes!" He said pumping his fist, "Just what I was going for."

"And you're wearing the tie I made for you!" Sora commented.

"Yup! You do come up with the best designs!"

"Aww thank you."

Just then Takuya and Zoe walked in the door.

"Ah if it isn't the couple of the hour!" Sora said greeting the two of them.

"Thanks Sora, thank for letting us use your lovely house." Zoe said.

" Our pleasure." Sora replied.

"Congratulations you two!" Matt added.

"Thanks!" said Takuya "And you are?"

"Oh, I'm Matt, one of Tai and Sora's friends." Matt replied.

"Oh yeah I think Tai told me about you," Takuya said, "You're the rockstar right?"

"Well not yet," Matt admitted, "Hopefully soon though."

"What is that lovely smell?" asked Zoe sticking her nose in the air.

"That should be a gourmet lasagna." Replied Sora "We heard you love Italian food."

"I totally do!" Zoe said excitedly, "I used to live in Italy!"

Zoe and Takuya walked off with Sora to somewhere else in the Kamiya mansion. Matt was standing by the door when more of guys from Tai's team walked in. Matt chatted with them for a while about soccer and different things. He kept looking for anyone who might be related to the music scene but so far no one. He did meet someone else familiar though.

"Hey little bro!" Matt said to his younger brother T.K. "How are you?"

"Pretty good Matt!" T.K. answered.

"How'd you get in here you're a…writer." Matt asked.

"Well really it was my date who got me in here. As for the reason you don't think I'd miss a chance to come to the famed 'Kamiya Mansion' do you?" T.K. replied.

"I guess not who's your date?" Matt asked looking around.

"Here you can meet her." T.K. said, "Kari come over here."

Up walked a skinny brown haired girl with a camera around her neck.

"What is T.K.?" she asked.

"I want you to meet my brother Yamato Ishida." T.K. said.

"You can call me Matt." Said Matt.

"Hi I'm Hikari Kamiya, Tai's sister. But you can call me Kari." Said the girl, "I'm taking pictures because I'm interning at a celebrity news magazine as a photographer. Apparently I'm one of the only photographers Tai and Sora will let in their house so I was assigned her."

"Not a tabloid I hope." Matt said.

"No, not quite just celebrity news and gossip. But I don't really want to be with them for too long. I'm working on starting my own photography business." Kari said.

"Very cool." Matt said,

Suddenly something very bright and colorful caught Matt's eye. It was pink and sparkled gold as if there was some reflective metal in it. Upon closer inspection Matt figured out it was someone's hair. Pink with bold stars woven in, it had to be Mimi Tachikawa. Her hairstyle was her trademark. She had been one of the singers of Zephyr Roses. After the group broke up Mimi had begun a solo career and was perhaps now the most famous of the members of Zephyr Roses. She was nicknamed the "Princess of Pop" for her stranglehold of the top of the pop charts. It seemed everyone loved to hear her sing.

On top of that Matt had to admit she was beautiful. She had a pretty face highlighted by her big light brown eyes. Her figure was perfect and looked very nice in her pink dress.

"She's really something isn't she?" T.K. commented.

Matt realized he had been staring.

"Oh yeah…" Matt said nodding in approval, "I'm gonna go talk to her."

"Kay, good luck bro!" encouraged T.K.

Matt watched Mimi congratulate her friend Zoe then walk over to the bar. Matt took a deep breath, ran a hand through his hair and shook it out, then walked over to the empty barstool next to Mimi.

"Hey," he said, "So you're Mimi Tachikawa?"

"That's what it says on my birth certificate!" She said with enthusiasm.

"Really I thought every star change their name." Matt thought out loud.

"Yeah but my name's just so perfect!" she said "No one could come up with a better name if they tried."

"Ha alright!" Matt said, "Well I don't know about your name but you've got a killer voice! You hit notes opera singers would be jealous of. No digital enhancement right?"

"Course not! The only enhancement my voice needs is amplification!" She said, "Though my voice is pretty loud already! Watch!"

Mimi started to hold a note. It was medium volume at first but increased it increased volume till Mimi was shouting at the top of her lungs. Everyone looked over at her, but after seeing it was Mimi turned backed to whatever they were doing. They all knew Mimi was sort of wild and zany.

Matt rubbed his ears, trying to recover from the vocal blast.

"Wow!" He said, "I didn't know anyone could sing a high "E" that loud."

"Now I'm impressed you knew what note that was!" Mimi said.

"Well I've worked with music for a while."

"Do you sing?" asked Mimi.

"Yeah if you want to call it that. I know the note I need to hit but my vocal cords don't always let me. This is me right now." Matt pointed up to the speakers playing one of his songs.

"Hmm… Yeah you're a little flat,"

"I know it," admitted Matt

"But are you playing the guitar?" She asked, "That part is real good!"

"Yeah I am!" Said Matt.

"You're a pretty good guitar player, a lot better than a lot I've heard and I've heard a lot."

"Thanks I try!"

"Hey you wanna come in and record a part for one of my songs. I've been trying to have someone lay down a guitar track for me but all the good guitarists are gone or something because I have not gotten a good one yet!"

"Hey that'd be great I've worked in the studio before."

"Kay come to Sonic Revolution Studios around two'o clock or so. Her let me give you my cell number."

Mimi handed Matt a bright pink card with a number on it along with Mimi's name and "CALL ME!" at the bottom.

"Oooohhh!" Mimi exclaimed, as a slow song came on, "Dance with me!"

Before Matt could do anything Mimi grabbed him and pulled him onto a dance floor Tai and Sora had the maids set up earlier.

"I love this song!" Mimi practically shouted.

Mimi and Matt danced to the music, with Matt trying to remember steps he learned he was in high school. Mimi tipped herself over into Matt's arms. Matt caught her and looked deeply into her large eyes.

"_This is kind of nice." _Matt thought to himself.

The two were interrupted by a large man interrupted them. He was a few inches taller than Matt and also had long dirty blond hair. Matt recognized him from movies he had seen. He was the famous actor Shawn Summers. Matt remembered that him and Mimi were going out.

"Is this guy bothering you?" Asked Shawn in a threatening tone.

"No we're just dancing." Mimi said pulling away form Matt.

"Yeah I've heard that one before," Said Shawn incredulously "What are you looking at?"

Matt realized he'd been staring at Mimi again.

"You got a lot of nerve asking my girl to dance!" Shawn said.

"Leave him alone Shawn I asked him." Corrected Mimi.

"Why? You shouldn't be dancing with other guys!" yelled Shawn.

"I was just being friendly." Defended Mimi.

"Yeah you be friendly and next thing I hear you two'll be getting a room," Muttered Shawn, "C'mon babe let's go over here."

Shawn grabbed Mimi by the arm and took her with him.

"Two' o clock at Sonic Revolution okay?" Mimi tried to say to Matt as she was being dragged off.

"Yeah I got it!" Matt said pointing at Mimi.

With that Mimi was away from Matt. Matt stood alone on the dance floor watching her go. Sora saw him and felt bad; so she went and danced with him for a little bit. But the entire time Sora and him danced a different girl was on his mind.

________________________________________________________________

**Well there it is Matt meets the Princess of Pop**

**Tell me what you thought please, there's still alot up in the air for how this story could turn out I could use your feedback**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Second Thoughts

**Chapter 3 of this story is here!**

**I tried to slow down this story and show more of Matt's struggle due to suggestion and my agreement with that suggestion**

**Thanks for the feedback reviewers, PrincessJaded, M M Forever, PaN-cHaN862005, and Ai-chan! I really helps me out! And Ai-chan I wish you'd left me a signed review I wanted to reply :( **

**Well on to the story:**

__________________________________________________________________

Matt was in the middle of one of his songs. His eyes were closed as he concentrated on hitting the right notes. He opened them to look out at the audience. A few people looked excited but most of the people in the club were apathetic and some even looked like they wanted the band to stop.

Matt tried to compensate trying to put more energy into his performance and trying to get his band mates to join him. He looked around him; it looked like they were trying very hard too. They still weren't getting enough energy from the crowd. That energy was the lifeblood of any live performance. Bands feed off of it. There is only so much musicians can provide on their own, but if a crowd is behind them it could lift even mediocre bands to soaring heights.

Matt was far from soaring now. He knew what it was like though. He'd had some awesome concerts back when he was in high school, but they were harder to come by now. Matt lived for that feeling though; it killed him that he could barely get a fraction of it now. He understood why some musicians turned to drugs to get that same rush. Matt didn't though. To him drugs were a cheap imitation of that rush.

Matt and the band finished the song to some scattered applause.

"Thanks so much!" Matt said into the microphone. Matt made a signal to the band for what song they were going to play next. He was going to try a new song he'd written recently. He'd never performed it before. It was going to be a little bit of a shot in the dark but they needed some kind of change right now.

"Kay, guys this is the first ever live performance I hope you guys like it!" Matt said to the audience.

The song opened with a fast, hard-hitting guitar riff. After the opening part the song quieted down to just Matt strumming on his guitar. He sang into the microphone.

" Goin through my day

Same thing as the last

Why does everything

Have to match what we did in the past?

There's another way,

Doing what I say!"

The band had slowly been coming in and now was building.

"I'm makin' up my mind

Thing are gonna be different this time!"

The building the band had started now exploded in full force in the chorus.

"I'm breakin' out now!

Out of the prison all around me!"

Matt was feeling more energy in the band, but what about the crowd? Matt turned his head to the audience just in time to see a bottle hurtling towards his head. He dodged it, ducking his head down. He'd unfortunately had to get pretty good at that. The stage lights went out and the band stopped playing. The band quickly exited to avoid the "boos" and other hurtful projectiles coming at the stage.

Matt cursed under his breath. He thought things were going well he going really well. Apparently he had thought wrong.

Backstage, the manager met them.

"Sorry things didn't go so well out there. I thought you guys were okay, but I've got to look out for my customers. I don't think I'm going to ask you guys to come back here." He said.

"Look we were a little rough tonight but I promise we'll be better next time." Matt said trying to keep a regular gig at the club.

"I don't think so. There are a lot of other bands out there guys and I'm not sure you're the best one for this club. If you guys change my mind I'll call you for now but for now I don't think you'll have a regular gig here." the manager said.

"Alright." Matt reluctantly conceded.

"You guys can come clean up your stuff at around eleven." The manager said.

With that the manager headed out the door. Leaving the band there to squabble about what had gone wrong.

__________________________________________________________________

Matt returned to the club to clean up the band's stuff. It sucked being your own roadie, but that wasn't Matt's main concern right now. The band had ended up having to split up after the gig to keep from fighting. There had been a lot of fighting within the band lately. He hoped everything would be okay when they cleaned up.

Matt arrived there and the other band members were already there. They seemed to be talking easily amongst themselves. Matt was glad to see it, but when he joined them they got quieter. Matt tried to lighten up the atmosphere with a few jokes. The other band members let out a few laughs but they seemed forced. The responses were short when Matt tried to converse with them. They didn't seem to want to talk to Matt. After several failed attempts Matt decided to just go about his work in silence.

When everyone was done packing up Matt had finally had enough.

"Is something going on guys?" asked Matt, "When I left none of you guys would shut up."

"There is something we wanted to talk with you about…" started Kent the drummer.

"It's about the future of the band," added Shohei the band's bassist.

"What about it?" Matt asked hesitantly.

"I don't think we should be so serious about it." Stated Max the keyboardist.

"Why not guys?" Matt asked annoyed, "If we're not serious how are we ever going to make it?"

"That's the thing Matt," interjected Shohei, "We've been trying for a long time now and haven't really gotten that far. Maybe we should think about getting real jobs."

"This is a real job guys! And more importantly it's our job!" Matt argued, "Don't you remember in high school? We vowed we'd become the greatest band ever."

"That was a long time ago, Matt. We might still be called "The Teenage Wolves" but we're not teenagers anymore." Said Masayuki the rhythm guitarist, "Maybe it's time we give up that dream, maybe we're not really that good."

"C'mon we are good we just need a little bit of polishing is all." Matt said.

"I don't think so Matt. We've been at this for what? Like five years? I think if we were any good someone would have noticed us by now." Said Masayuki.

"Yeah and this job really isn't giving me all the money I need. My wife's starting to complain about the lack of money in our house. I think we should focus on different careers." Said Max.

"We could still play on weekends and stuff, but I don't think this band can be my life though, Matt." Kent said.

"Yeah, okay guys, I'll think about what you've said." Matt stuffed all his equipment in the back of his Civic Hatchback and drove away.

__________________________________________________________________

Matt arrived at Tai and Sora's house the same time he usually arrived back from gigs, a little after midnight. Matt walked into the familiar large atrium. Some kind of beat was playing and Tai and Sora were in the middle of the floor in shorts and t-shirts. They were doing a choreographed dance together with Tai repeating, "1, 2, 1, 2,"

"Uh what's going on guys?"

Without stopping Sora said, "Tai signed us up for some celebrity dance off for charity so we're rehearsing."

"Uh okay, you guys look real funny. You know that?" Matt said.

"Not when we're done practicing we won't." Tai retorted.

"Well I'm gonna go get a drink." Said Matt heading to the kitchen.

"All right we'll join you in a bit." Said Sora jumping back and forth rhythmically.

About a half an hour later Tai, Sora, and Matt were at the kitchen table enjoying a cold drink.

"How's your dancing coming?" Matt asked.

"Very well thanks!" said Sora

"Even if I was a celebrity, I wouldn't be caught dead doing that!" Matt said.

"Pssh you're just jealous of our skills. So how'd your gig go?" Tai asked wiping sweat off with a towel.

Matt looked into his cup and shook it a bit.

"Not so well." Matt answered.

"What happened?" Sora asked putting her arms on the table and leaning on them.

"We got booed off the stage and we lost the gig at the club." Matt said.

"Oh, we're sorry Matt." Tai apologized.

"That's not even the worst part," continued Matt, "The other members in my band said I shouldn't be so serious. They don't really believe we can make to the big time. They said maybe we should try and get 'real jobs'."

"Well what do you think Matt?" Sora asked. There was something in Matt's eyes Sora wasn't used to seeing. Matt looked uncertain. Before even if Matt had a bad performance he still had a quiet determination about him. But now Matt looked like he was lacking conviction.

"I don't really know guys. Maybe they're right, maybe I not meant to be a musician," Matt sighed tapping his finger nervously on the table, "I don't really know what I'd do though. Music is really all I know. It's my life."

"Then that's what you should do, Matt, don't give up on your dreams." Sora said.

"Yeah we didn't and now we're living our dreams." Tai said.

"I know but there's a million other people who only wish they were doing what you are I might just be one of those." Matt said dismally.

"No you're not Matt you're great at what you do." Tai encouraged.

"I used to think so, Matt. But now I'm not so sure. If I was really that good would I be getting kicked out of all these clubs?" Matt said.

"But you are really great Matt," Sora said.

"Thanks, but you guys are my friends and your supposed to say that." Matt said.

"We're not just saying it Matt. You are really very good at what you do." Sora encouraged, "It just takes time. You see that dress on our wall? It took at least three years of trying different designs to get that and it still took a while before someone looked at it and said that it was any good."

"Yeah and I was on the practice squad for a long time before I actually got to play in an actual game." Tai added.

"But I've been at this longer than you guys. Things worked out for you guys because it was meant to be. But I'm still not convinced this is meant to be. I feel like I've been on a wild goose chase for so long. It seems my big break is always just out of reached. I don't know how long I can keep chasing this dream. I'm not going to be the loser mooching off his rich friends forever." Matt said.

"Matt, you're not a loser for chasing your dreams. And you're not a loser for staying with us either." Sora said trying to reassure Matt.

"Yes I am I can't even make enough money to support myself." Matt retorted.

"C'mon Matt you'll be rolling in dough once you get started and you will believe me." Tai said giving Matt a smile.

"I wish I could be so optimistic Tai but I don't see how it's going to come. My band's not going anywhere. We're kind of falling apart." Matt said not returning Tai's smile.

"What about that thing with that singer, Mimi?" Sora asked.

"Oh yeah I can't believe I almost forgot about it. I guess I've been so busy with band stuff." Matt said.

"I can't believe you forgot about Mimi. You were sneaking glances at her like the whole party!" Tai said.

"Yeah I guess I was…" Matt said. Tai had finally got Matt to smile.

"Playing with her could be your big break Matt!" Sora said happy to see that Matt was smiling. She didn't like to see her friend sad.

With the mood lightened the conversation moved to other things. After they were finished talking Matt went to his room and looked for the card Mimi had given him. He finally found it under a pile of paper with words to songs he was working on. He took the card and pinned it on his calendar right on the next Tuesday. Matt looked at it from his bed. He felt like that was his last chance. If he didn't make something happen there he decided he'd look for other work. Matt knew he shouldn't place all his hopes on this but he did.

__________________________________________________________________

**That's it thanks for reading, tell me what you thought plz!**

**Btw the song lyrics in here are ones I wrote as an idea for a song I'm writing. Pretty dumb I know, but I'm still working on it. Suggestions on that would be great too. I'm sure you're better poets than I am.**

**Bye for now!**


	4. Sonic Revolution Studios

**It's been a little while but I finally got back to this story.**

**Thank you for reviews! I superly appreciate them! Thanks especially to PrincessJaded for taking such an interest in this story! I've gotten a lot of unsugned revies for this story which are great, but I liked signed ones because I like to be able to respond to reviews. Interacting with the people here is one of the best parts of fanfiction!**

**I don't own anything that is already trademarked in here. But any of the other stuff is mine!**

**Rock it! Rock and roll radio! Let's go! R&R!**

______________________________________________________________

Carefully Matt lowered his guitar into its case. This one was his favorite, a candy apple red Fender Stratocaster imported from America. All his friends had pitched in to buy it for him as a sweet sixteen present. Tai had even signed it saying it would be worth a fortune when he got famous. Now the guitar probably would be pretty valuable but Matt was too sentimental to get rid of it. Plus, it was his lucky guitar. He had played a lot of really good gigs with it.

He locked his case and headed for his car and headed for Sonic Revolution Studios. Today was the day Matt felt would make or break his career. Whatever the case it would be a crossroads. If nothing came of this then Matt would go back to school and give up his dream of a career as a musician. It pained Matt to think of that possibility but was ready to go through with it if it came to that.

Matt had been practicing almost non-stop to get ready for this opportunity. He wanted to be as ready as he could. On the way to the studio Matt listened to some of Mimi's music humming along with it.

Matt stopped his car in the parking lot of the studio. He took a deep breath and got out. Guitar in hand, Matt walked through the front door into the studio. Inside Matt found a lobby where a brown haired receptionist sat looking fairly bored.

"May I help you?" she asked without much feeling.

"Yeah," Matt answered, "I'm here to record for Mimi Tachikawa?"

"All right, you can go in the third room on the right down that way with all the others." The receptionist said without looking up from her papers.

"Thanks…" Matt said giving the receptionist a slight scowl.

_"Others?" _Matt thought.

Matt figured out what the receptionist had meant when he got to the third door on the right. In it were at least ten other guitarists a different varieties sitting in chairs by the wall. Matt sat down in one of the chairs. He and the rest of the guitarists sat awkwardly in silence each wondering what the others were dong there.

Matt tapped a rhythm on his leg, playing one of Mimi's songs in his head. Matt looked at the other musicians. Each one had a unique look about them. One had tattoos all down his arms and green spiked hair, another had a thin beard, sunglasses and a fedora, there was even a guy in a full suit. Matt wore a graphic Rolling Stone T-shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, and a blazer.

A man in an expensive suit walking in finally ended the awkward silence in the room. Matt recognized him at once Kite Himura Mimi's agent. He seemed very aloof to Matt. He had a presence about him that seemed to say, "you're not worth my time".

"Well more of you showed up than I thought." He said, "No matter. Everyone listen because I will not repeat myself."

All the guitarists' gazes moved from their spots on the wall and floor to attention on Kite.

"We have a song that needs a guitar track. The reason you're here is we couldn't find a professional. Now there's only room for one track so only one of you is going to make the cut. If you do you'll receive 200,000 yen, you're name in the album, and part of the royalties for the song. That's the deal so make it good gentlemen. And please don't suck we need this track to finish the album on time. We'll give you a listen to the demo right now." Kite said.

Each of the guitarists listened intently. Some hummed their own counter-melodies. Matt let himself be enraptured by the sound of Mimi's voice. He had spent all his time leading up to this immersing himself in Mimi's music. Now he had an excellent feel for Mimi's vocal style. Though even after listening to her for so long Matt was still entranced by Mimi's voice. The feel of the song was strongly pop, fairly simple instrumentation, but driving vocals. It wasn't Matt's usual style but he could feel a guitar part for the song. The song ended and the guitarists around Matt muttered to themselves.

"So who's first?" Asked Kite.

One of his lackeys holding a list looked down and picked out the first name on the list.

"Michael Terakayawa?" called out the man with the list.

One of the guitarists got up and went with Kite. The rest of the people in the room went back to sitting there nervously.

The lackey came back with the list and read another name and another guitarist left and it continued like that. With every minute more tension brewed inside of Matt. This was it make or break. He'd dealt with high-pressure situations in his career before, but this was the real stuff, recording for a big name in music.

Matt waited for what seemed like an eternity. In truth it was getting to be later than Matt had expected. Finally,

"Yamato Ishida," called the lackey's voice.

Matt got up grabbed his guitar and went nervously followed the man who'd called his name. Past a heavy soundproof door Matt found himself in a control room with an engineer and a bunch of underlings and to his delight, Mimi. Mimi was swaying back and forth to the track the guitarist in the studio was laying down. The guitar was giving Mimi's song a little bit of a Latin feel. It wasn't too bad. Things seemed to be going well in the studio till the guitarist hit a wrong chord. Immediately Kite stopped the music.

"Please leave sir, we don't have room for errors in this production." Kite said matter-of-factly.

"Just give me one more try." Requested the guitarist.

"No," came Kite's reply, "This is already your second pass and you're still making mistakes. We don't have all day to wait for you when we have others who can get it right the first time!"

The guitarist in the studio muttered under his breath but left the studio.

"I assume you're next then?" asked Kite. Matt nodded.

"Alright get to it then." Kite said.

Mimi turned to see who the next guitarist was and a white-toothed smile spread on her face when she saw Matt.

"Matt!" she exclaimed, "I'm so glad you came! No one's got me that good a track yet."

"Wow, I can't believe you remembered my name." said Matt.

"Yeah I may have been pretty lousy at remembering stuff when I was in school but I'm real good with names and faces!" She said.

"No kidding," replied Matt, "Well I'd better get you a good track."

"Good luck!" Mimi said blowing a kiss.

Matt blushed a little then went into the studio to get setup.

"I'll give you five minutes to get yourself ready." Said the engineer.

Matt went into the booth where the other guitarist had been. He checked the amp they had for him. It was fairly standard, nothing too fancy about it. It didn't look like it would be able to add that much color to Matt's tone. Fortunately Matt had come prepared. In addition to his lucky guitar Matt also had another secret weapon in his guitar case.

Matt opened a compartment in his case after taking out his guitar. In it was a black box with a metallic wolf graphic painted on it. It was Matt's "Howling Blaster" pedal. Matt's old electronics whiz friend, Koushiro Izumi, had made it for him. Matt really liked it as it gave him a rich overdriven sound all his own.

He plugged into it before running his guitar into the amp. After adjusting a few settings

on his pedal and the amp, Matt gave the engineer the thumbs up signaling he was ready to go.

The music started and Matt's fingers stiffened from nervousness. It was suddenly hard to feel anything with either hand. It felt like he was playing with rocks on the ends of his arms. His mind went blank; he couldn't remember any of what he had wanted to play when he had first heard the song. All he could manage was some simple chords over the rest of the mix. Matt regained his composure and started to add a few clever lines but it was a little too late. He'd missed most of the song.

The song ended and Matt shook has head in frustration. He looked up to see Kite doing the same.

"Could I have one more pass on that?" Matt asked tentatively.

"All right, but no more!" Kite said firmly from behind the glass.

Matt stretched his fingers trying to loosen them up. He practiced a few warm up exercises to warm up his fingers. However, he missed the engineer's countdown and the music started while he was playing. Matt managed to end on a right note and went right into playing the song. This time Matt was able to add his own guitar riffs and melodies into the song. Matt was careful to preserve Mimi's voice as the focus but occasionally added a harmony on his guitar to her voice for emphasis. Matt hit the last chord triumphantly.

He looked up from his guitar to see what everyone else thought. He couldn't tell from what he saw from any of their faces. Kite seemed devoid of emotion and Mimi had on her customary smile.

"How was that?" Matt asked intently.

"You tell me." Replied Kite.

The engineer fiddled with a few buttons on his control panel and Matt heard the song with his track on it through his headphones.

At first Matt grimaced to hear it as he remembered the mistake he made on the first part. But when he heard it he was surprised. The little part he played made for an excellent intro. The rest of the song surprised Matt as well. His parts sounded near perfect with the other instruments and especially Mimi's voice. Matt couldn't help smiling as he listened to it.

When the song ended Matt still could hardly believe it.

"How'd you do that?" Matt asked Kite.

"Just played back what you recorded. That was all you," Kite said. Matt thought he saw Kite show a hint of a smile, but it was hard to tell, "Why don't you come out here and we'll talk about how we're going to pay you."

"But aren't there other guitarists who still have to record?" Asked Matt.

"As far as I'm concerned they all can go home. We've got the track we want." Kite said.

Matt walked back into the control room and got a huge hug from Mimi.

"That was so awesome!" She exclaimed.

Matt was over the moon at this point he had recorded a great track for Mimi Tachikawa and now had her in his arms. He came back to earth when he saw Shawn Summers over Mimi's shoulder looking on disapprovingly. He must have come in while Matt was playing.

"We should celebrate! I have a feeling that song is gonna be a big hit!" Mimi said excitedly, "How about we go to that fancy place on 9th street. My treat!"

"No you're coming with me to the set of the movie I'm in. Come on." Shawn said shooting down Mimi's idea.

"But what am I going to eat? I haven't had dinner yet." Mimi complained.

"They'll have food around the set." Shawn answered.

"I don't like the food they have," Mimi whined, "Besides I never have anything to do when we go to your movie set!"

"You'll survive," Shawn said, "C'mon we have to go or we'll be late."

"Okay…" Mimi said halfheartedly,

"Call me okay?" Mimi said to Matt.

Matt nodded and waved goodbye to Mimi.

"All right, I have a few things for you to fill out so we can get you your money." Said Kite handing Matt some papers.

"Of course."

Matt took the papers and began to fill them out. It looked like he would finally have some real money.

______________________________________________________________

**Thoughts? As I cannot read the minds of everyone who reads this, it helps me if you write me a review. That way I can know what you're thinking about this. **

**Thanks for reading!**

**Rock on!**


	5. The Princess in the Wolf's den

**Hey All!**

**Sorry I haven't updated this for a while. I've been busy with other things and I've been working on a double feature for this story.**

**Thanks to my loyal reviewers, PrincessJaded and M M Forever! I need you guys like mexican food needs hot sauce, or celebrities need rehab, or a clogged toilet needs a plunger. Yeah...**

**I don't own digimon. If I did you'd be watching this on TV not reading this on fanfiction. **

**Without further adieu, ch.5 of The Lone Wolf and The Princess of Pop**

____________________________________________________________________________

Matt continued to fiddle with the pink card in his hand. It was the one Mimi had given him with her number on it. He'd been trying to get a hold of her for about 2 hours. The line was still busy. He should have guessed. Mimi was a celebrity after all.

Two hours was enough though. He'd left her a message she'd call back if she really wanted. He didn't really think she would. She probably had better things to do. But in spite of that Matt stared at his phone hoping it would ring.

He'd gotten his check from Kite that day. It was more money than he made in two months gigging around the Japan. Matt was really happy that he was finally making good money. It was a very rewarding feeling. He felt validated.

Matt turned back to his cluttered desk. He pulled out a notebook from one of the piles and opened it. He started writing some things down. Just lines of words going through his head, the way he usually did. He often used things he wrote down for songs.

He penned some words down and read them back to himself.

"Baby you're a glitter doll, on the radio, I dissolve in the stereo, you've got me coming back for more." He said trying to match it with some melody as he read it.

_"Not bad" _he thought to himself, _"Still needs some work."_

Matt tapped his pen against his temple trying to think of some more lines. Then he heard a familiar guitar riff coming from behind him. It was Gun's N Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine".

He quickly turned to see who it was. It was Mimi's number. He quickly picked up the phone.

"Hi Mimi!" he said into the phone.

"Who is this?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, It's Matt Ishida."

"Matt! Oh I'm so glad it's not another one of those stalkers who got my number again! How are you? I was meaning to call you anyway. You really did a good job in the studio!"

" Thanks! I remembered you said wanted to celebrate, so I thought I'd ask if you wanted to have dinner together."

"I'd love to! I'm just sorry we couldn't yesterday! Where were you wanting to have dinner?"

"I was actually thinking right here at Tai and Sora's house."

"Um alright…"

"Don't worry I'll make it worth you're while, I promise."

"Okay, I'll trust you. I'll be over after eight because that's when Shawn's filming for his movie ends. Kay see you then!"

"Yeah, bye."

Matt hung up the phone. Immediately he went into Tai and Sora's dining room. It was only 4 o' clock but he had to get ready.

____________________________________________________________________________

Matt looked around the dining room. It looked like a five star restaurant. Matt gave most of the credit to Sora. She really had an eye for making things beautiful, which is probably why she was such a good fashion designer. He felt like the house was ready for Mimi.

Nervously Matt paced the floor. He wanted everything to go well. This was the famous "Mimi Tachikawa" that innumerable people would give anything to have some of her time. Now he had her to himself. Tai and Sora were going out to a movie opening party.

It wasn't the achievement of knowing someone famous Matt wanted. He already had that. He really wanted Mimi to like him. Tucked away in his wildest dreams he hoped for something more than Mimi's friendship. But he pushed that notion away in his mind as being simply ridiculous.

Matt finally heard a knock at the door. He rushed over to get it. He opened the door and there she was.

She was in a simple black and white dress, but on Mimi's figure it was stunning.

"Aren't you going to let me in?" Mimi asked after Matt stopped moving.

"Oh right," Matt said sheepishly realizing he couldn't stare at Mimi forever.

"Wow this place is nice. I always love it when I get to come here," Mimi said looking around the house, "So what are we having for dinner?"

"Whatever you want." Matt said, "I'm cooking."

"Ooohh! You cook?"

"Yeah I've dabbled in it a bit."

"Well if it's anywhere near as good as your guitar playing it should be awesome!"

"So what'll it be?" Matt said heading for the kitchen.

"Uh, can you make me a seafood salad?" she asked.

"I think I can do that."

"Can I come in the kitchen with you?" Mimi asked, "I love watching people cook!"

"Sure!"

Mimi followed Matt into the kitchen and watched as Matt scurried about the kitchen grabbing various food items.

"Do you do this often?" Mimi asked.

"Not that much anymore. I used to do it a lot for my girlfriend back in high school."

"Ooohh! Who was she?"

"Sora actually."

"You mean the Sora who lives in this house?"

"Yeah,"

"Wow how'd that work out? What happened?"

"We just weren't right for each other I guess. She belongs with Taichi anyways. They work really well together and they're the best friends I could ask for."

"That's good. It's good to have friends like that. I wish I had more of those."

"What!" Matt said turning around in surprise, "I thought you'd have tons of friends you're Mimi Tachikawa."

"Yeah but not very many of those friends," Mimi made quotation signs with her hands when she said friends, "Really like Mimi Tachikawa. They just like her fame and money."

"I hadn't thought of that." Matt said putting something in his frying pan.

"Yeah, being famous almost makes it harder to have real friends. That's why I started going out with Shawn. He seems to like me for me. Not for all that other stuff. He's a little pushy sometimes but he can be sweet other times."

"That's good." Matt lied.

____________________________________________________________________________

At the table Matt presented Mimi with her seafood salad and he made himself a prime rib steak. Matt made conversation with Mimi about her music and other interests. He enjoyed listening to her talk. There was just an energy about her that made her enticing to listen to. She had what you would call a magnetic personality.

"This is really good!" Mimi complimented taking another bite of her salad.

"Thanks!" Matt said brimming from what she had said, "I'm glad you like it. Though I'm just glad you came here. I didn't think you'd give me the time of day. I know a lot of celebrities who are real stuck up."

"Thank you. I did the whole snob thing for a while. Refused to be seen with certain people, demanded my aides fulfill ridiculous demands… But that was when I was young and immature. I realized that that just makes you miserable."

"Yeah I can see how that would be."

"Besides, celebrities are normal people too, we just have better hair!" Mimi joked.

"Hahaha. Well you certainly have very nice looking hair," said Matt.

"Yeah! I love pink if you hadn't noticed! I have so much pink stuff at my house it's almost disgusting, but I love it!"

"I did notice."

Matt and Mimi finished eating. After dinner Mimi talked Matt into giving her a tour of the house.

"This is my room," Matt said, "Yeah, I know it's a mess."

"No it's alright," said Mimi walking in, "Beethoven's room was a mess because he had more important things to do than clean, like be a musical genius. That's what I always told my mom when she told me to clean my room."

"Hey what's this?" Mimi said grabbing Matt's notebook from his desk.

"Don't touch that!" Matt said trying to stop her. But it was too late.

"Oh this is where you write song lyrics." Mimi exclaimed, "These are pretty good."

"Yeah could you, uh, put that away?" Matt asked.

"No way, this is interesting." Mimi replied flipping through the notebook. Matt really hoped she wouldn't find the page he had written on earlier. Much to his chagrin however, she did.

"Hey who's this about?" Mimi asked.

Matt looked down so she wouldn't see him turning red.

"Uuuhhh." Matt thought, "I wrote that awhile ago about… Katsumi when she was still in Zephyr Roses with you."

"Oh okay." Mimi said putting down the notebook, "She was always the prettiest one in our group."

"You're no slouch yourself." Matt said.

"Aww, thanks!" Mimi exclaimed.

____________________________________________________________________________

Their tour finally took them to Tai and Sora's large indoor hot tub.

"It looks so inviting!" said Mimi, "Too bad I don't have my swimsuit."

"I could get you one! I'm sure Sora has something she's a fashion designer after all."

After rooting through a bunch of different designs, Mimi finally picked out a bikini with diagonal pink stripes running across it. Matt put on some swim trunks in another room and joined Mimi in the hot tub.

"Mmm," Mimi hummed sinking into the water to just below eye level, "This feels really good. It's been a long day. I've had to do all this stuff for my new album and go to Shawn's studio. Woo!"

Matt slowly worked his way over to being right next to Mimi. He put his hand on the top of the hot tub wall where Mimi was sitting. He wanted to move it down to Mimi's shoulder but thought better of it.

"This might be the biggest hot tub I've ever been in." Mimi said.

"Yeah, Tai spared no expense with this thing." Matt said in reply.

"Shawn's might be bigger though." Mimi noted.

Matt inwardly winced every time Mimi mentioned that name. He didn't know how she tolerated him. He seemed like he was just a jerk to Matt.

"How'd you two meet anyways?" asked Matt.

"I was doing one of the songs for one of his movies, "Fire and Ice" I think it was. We ended up making a music video together for the movie." Mimi answered, "He was just so sweet. We've been together ever since."

"Hmmm…" Matt was having trouble putting together how that would have happened in his head.

Matt wanted Mimi to stay longer but eventually did have to leave. Matt helped her with her things and opened the door for her.

"Thanks for the dinner love!" She said giving Matt a hug, "That was really fun!"

"Come over anytime!" said Matt.

Mimi was just about to leave through the door when she suddenly turned around.

"I almost forgot to tell you!" she exclaimed slapping her forehead, "I want you to come on tour with me!"

Time seemed to stop for Matt at that moment. He wanted to rewind to make sure he had heard her right. He decided he'd check to make sure what he heard was right.

"Wait you want me to come on tour with you?!"

"Yeah! We tried to get my usual guitarists to learn your part for the song you recorded for us, but none of them could play it. So we thought it would just be easier for you to play it!" Mimi replied, "And could you learn some of my other songs. It'd be easier if we could have just one guitarist. What do you say?"

"Yeah! I could do all that!" Matt said without hesitation.

"Cool!" Mimi said, "We're going to be rehearsing this Saturday at my house! Do you know where that is?"

"I think so…" said Matt.

"Well it should be pretty easy to find it's the pink house on D'el Seaux Hill." Mimi said.

"All right, sounds easy enough."

"Kay, see you there! Bring your guitar and your talent!"

"Wouldn't miss it for anything in the world."

"Great, later!"

With that Mimi left the Kamiya Estate. Matt was still in the doorway replaying what had just happened, because he still wasn't sure it had.

_"Hmm, on tour with Mimi Tachikawa." _He liked the sound of that.

____________________________________________________________________________

**Matt on tour next chapter! Like I said I'm doing a double feature for this story as some of you are waiting for it to get going. The next chapter is already written. I'll post it tomorrow!**

**Please review! I really like to hear what people think! If you need coercion see the third paragraph of my authors notes. Bonus points if you can guess what song Matt's writing. It'll make sense if you figure it out!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Tour: gig 1

**Just as I promised the second post of for this story. **

**Thanks to my two reviewers from yesterday. My faithful one M M Forever, Good job getting the song from the last chapter, and first-timer DarkAngelGuard. Love you guys! **

**I don't own digimon or any other copyrighted thing here but if it's not copyrighted it is mine so do not take it!**

**"Here we go, let's take 'em to the show, whoahoo! Turn up your radio!" ("The Show" Hawk Nelson)**

**R&R**

____________________________________________________________________________

The bus hit a bump on the road and Matt awoke with a start. For a moment he was a little disoriented. This wasn't the usual place where he slept. There was no clutter of guitars and clothes around him on the floor. He was sitting in a coach bus seat. Lights from streetlights and the city were a blur in the window. At his feet were his lucky guitar and a bunch of music.

Then he remembered. He was in Mimi's tour bus, one of them at least. Mimi was up in one the other busses ahead of them. They were headed to Osaka to play a show. Earlier Matt had been too excited to sleep, but apparently that had changed.

Matt picked up the music on the floor. The first one was "Breaking Dawn" the song that had gotten Matt this spot in the first place. He shuffled through the stack of papers to the next one. It had "The Bleeding Rose" written at the top. Matt remembered practicing it with Mimi on Saturday. Mimi said it was an old Zephyr roses song the fans liked to hear.

Papers fell to the ground as Matt went through each one in his head as he read them. He needed to have each one memorized for when he got onstage. He air-guitared trying to remember the songs from rehearsal on Friday. The practice had been a little hard; he had to go right into the songs without any preparation or anyone showing him the parts. Fortunately Matt had learned the parts beforehand but it was different playing it with real people. After the second or third time Matt got it though. He just hoped he'd remember everything when he got onstage.

Mimi said they'd be playing in an arena for about 25,000-30,000 people. Matt had never played for that many before. But it was his dream to able to. Now it looked like he would finally get his chance. He could hardly wait.

____________________________________________________________________________

The lights in the arena went to black. People in the audience all had their eyes on the stage in anticipation. A single beam of light shone and revealed the pink-haired diva everyone had come to see. The audience let out a cheer as Mimi started to sing.

Matt waited in the shadows for the rest of the lights to come on. That was when he was supposed to start playing. Though Matt almost didn't want to come in because he thought he might take away from the unadulterated quality of Mimi's voice. But the lights came on and it was time for him to shine.

"With the wings of an angel

I'm sailing through the sky

With the wings of an angel

I'm learning how to fly." Mimi sang.

Playing along with Mimi, Matt felt like he was soaring like the song said. The lyrics, the rhythm and the music were all meeting together creating something magical. Matt's nervousness instantly dissipated and he let the music take him.

He looked out into the audience. There were people dancing, cheering, singing, and having a great time. This was it Matt was living his dream. It seemed surreal, but Matt couldn't deny the reality of what was going on. He went to the edge of the stage and high-fived someone in the crowd, then went back to strumming his guitar. Mimi came up to Matt and put her arm on his shoulder as she sang. Matt gave her a big smile and kept playing.

The first song ended and everyone in the audience was on their feet. Matt could feel the vibrations on the stage from the sound of their cheers. Matt looked down at his feet at the set list. "Breaking Dawn" was the next song.

Before Matt could think about it anymore the lights went out again. Suddenly the only light in the whole arena was on Matt. He froze in the spotlight. Just about every thought left his mind. If you asked him his name right then he probably wouldn't have been able to tell you. Fortunately Matt's fingers remembered what to do from hour and hours of repetition.

After the intro the rest of the band started and Matt settled into the song. He could feel the energy from the music it was electric. Matt could hardly contain himself as he ran around the stage and jumped around to the music.

The guitar solo for the song hit and Matt went to his knees. He looked at the crowd. They were all cheering him on. He decided he'd do something he hadn't gotten to do because there hadn't been enough people, stage dive.

Matt hit the last note of his solo as the people in the front of the stage caught him. He put his arms out and just enjoyed the feeling.

"Take me back!" he said to the throng under him, realizing he had to play again.

There was too much going on though, so the crowd didn't hear him. He was at the mercy of the crowd. They finally go set down off to the left somewhere. Matt saw that the stage was a little too tall to get back on it from the front. So he went out one of the doors to try and get there from backstage.

Matt looked around trying to remember how to get backstage. Fortunately Matt didn't have to play for the next song but he did need to get to the stage for the song after that. On the way he bumped into a bunch of girls.

"I'm sorry." He apologized.

"Hey! You're the guitar player for Mimi Tachikawa!" said one of them.

"Can you come talk to us?" asked another.

"I want your autograph!" said one.

"Um, I gotta go." Said Matt.

"Wait no! Come back!" they said.

That's when Matt started to run. The girl's chased after him shouting. Matt hadn't needed to do that since high school with Jun and her friends.

He managed to lose them and get to the backstage door. A large security guard stood in his way.

"I need to get back there." said Matt.

"Not so fast, we don't just let anyone with a guitar go backstage." Said the security guard, "Do you have a backstage pass?"

"Well no, but I'm in the band. I'm Matt Ishida." Said Matt.

"Yeah right I've already had two guys come up to me and say that," Said the security guard refusing to move "If you really are Matt Ishida, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be onstage?"

"Yes that's what I'm trying to do!" Shouted Matt getting kind of annoyed. The next song was starting and Matt was supposed to be playing. Luckily he was wireless so he could still play but it was harder since he couldn't see the people he was playing with.

"Look," Matt pointed to his guitar, "When I play you hear it onstage. And that's where I need to be right now."

The security guard looked at Matt's guitar suspiciously.

"Or you know this song really well." Replied the guard.

"Fine here,"

Matt took his hand away from his guitar strings for a second to reach into his pocket, "Look it says on my driver's license. I'm Matt Ishida."

"Hmm," the security guard looked at the ID, "Alright this might be fake but I'll take you back stage. We'd better not run into another Matt Ishida while were back there."

Matt followed the guard backstage and started to make his way to the stage with the security guard still on his tail. They both ran into Kite.

"Matt, why aren't you onstage?" he asked raising an eyebrow above his sunglasses.

"I was trying to get past security because I… fell off the stage." Answered Matt.

"Well get out there they need you." Said Kite raising his voice slightly. Kite gave the guard a nod signaling him to leave.

Matt ran back onstage and continued playing. Everyone gave him a "where were you look". Matt mouthed the words "I'm sorry". Matt tried not to do anything to crazy for the rest of the night.

____________________________________________________________________________

"Great job Matt! That was a really good show tonight!" Mimi said to Matt back at their hotel.

"Thanks! You did really well I thought too!" Matt complimented.

"What happened when you jumped off the stage Matt?" She asked.

"Well I sorta had to find my way back to the stage because the mosh pit wouldn't take me back," Matt said, "But the worst part was the security guard wouldn't let me in. He said I might not be the real Matt Ishida. That was dumb."

"Oh I know how that can be." Mimi laughed, "Back when I was in Zephyr Roses we had to pretend to be groupies to get I back when we were just opening for bands. No one knew who we were back then. But don't worry Matt pretty soon your name will get out there and everyone will recognize you!"

"You think?" asked Matt.

"Definitely! You're good Matt, it won't be long!" she encouraged.

"So you want to do something tonight?" asked Matt.

"No, Shawn and I have plans." Answered Mimi.

"Oh…"

"Maybe some other time."

Disappointed Matt turned to go to his room. Just then he ran into the other band members for Mimi.

"Hey we were just going to grab a drink down at the bar. You wanna come." Asked the drummer.

"Yeah sure," said Matt.

At the bar Matt sat in the booth with the rest of his band mates. It wasn't much fun really. They mostly just name-dropped about people they had met and played with. They were studio musicians, sort of like mercenaries of music. They played for whoever needed them for different amounts of time. Matt sat there silently. He could have name-dropped too about Tai and Sora but he really wasn't into that.

He got up to get another drink from the bar and decided he'd just sit there. He was feeling a little alone. Mimi was gone and he didn't really have anyone to talk to. He took a swig of his drink and stared into space for a little bit. This wasn't a feeling he ever got used to.

"Hi you're Matt Ishida right?" came a voice in the midst of Matt's introspection.

Matt looked and saw the voice came from a girl sitting next to him, eyeing him intently. She had black hair with blond highlights and looked to be a teenager.

"Yeah, and who are you?" asked Matt.

"I'm Asuka!" she said excitedly, "I thought you were awesome tonight!"

"Thanks, I try."

"Boy do you ever!"

"Hey are you allowed to be here? You look like you're still in high school."

"Yeah, I just turned 20! I went to Mimi's concert for my birthday. So I am legal!"

"Okay, just making sure. I don't want to be a part of anything illegal."

"Don't worry about it. So how long have you been playing guitar?"

"Since high school. That was when I really got into music."

"What inspired you to start playing?"

"You know it was actually the guitar intro for 'Sweet Child o' Mine' by Guns and Roses. That riff is just perfect. I have it as my ring tone now."

"That's cool. I think I've heard that song"

Matt and Asuka talked for about an hour about guitar stuff and different things Matt had done. She really seemed to be interested in him. Matt liked it.

"I should probably go and get some sleep." Matt said seeing that it was getting late.

"Can I come with you?" asked Asuka giving him a cute smile.

Matt thought about it.

"Yeah, sure I could use the company." Matt said.

Up at Matt's hotel room Matt opened the door for Asuka. After she went in, Matt put a do not disturb sign on the doorknob and went in after her.

____________________________________________________________________________

**Ooohhh, Matt gets his first groupie. See what else ensues as Matt and Mimi tour the country.**

**The lyrics to the song Mimi sang I wrote myself which is why it sounds pretty dumb. **

**Well till next time! Review if you have time and even if you don't just use a time warp before you review!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. A Taste of Harmony

**Hello everyone,**

**Sorry this is a bit late I've been real busy lately. One with work and the other with this: .com/watch?v=pdcZCRm_vkQ. Check out the vid if you can.(I play guitar in it) It would help for this contest if we had more views.**

**Well enough of my shameless self-promotion. Thank you to all who reviewed! I decided to respond to reviews here because I didn't really have time to respond before.**

**PrincessJaded: Better late than never on the review. The small package idea would explain why he's so insecure...**

**M M Forever: Thanks for all your reviews! I'd love to dedicate a chapter to you but if I do I'd have to put something from you in it. It could be a song, something you would like to see happen or heck with enough information I could write you in as a character! Anyway write and tell me, so this can work!**

**DarkAngelGuard: I don't like the Sora and Matt couple a whole lot either. The last episode always annoyed me for that reason.**

**lilanimegal00: Glad you're enjoying this story. Is that you in your profile pic. If so sweet pink hair!(like Mimis)**

**I don't own digimon or any songs I use in this chapter at least**

**Hope you like! R&R! **

________________________________________________________

Light finally reached the bed in the hotel room. Matt sat up blinked a few times and tried to remember where he was. It didn't feel like he had anything on. He looked to the side and saw a girl sleeping next to him. Then it all came back to him: the show from the day before, drinking at the bar, and inviting Asuka to his room.

He got up, put some boxer shorts on and paced the room. It was the largest hotel room Matt had ever been in. It was like the kind you see people get in movies. Matt tried to sort everything out in his head. Performing live with Mimi the day before seemed like a dream as he remembered it. Matt was living a dream right now. This was what he used to daydream about back in high school; the screaming fans, the big hotel room, and having girls come up to him wanting him.

Something was still missing though. He still felt like he needed someone special with whom to share everything he had now. That was one of the reasons he had talked with Asuka and invited her to his room. He wanted to have this experience with someone. But Matt knew it probably wouldn't work between them. The two of them didn't have much in common. Matt had had enough flings to know that. Asuka would probably try and contact him a few times. They might even meet up again. However, there would be nothing to sustain the relationship but the fact that Asuka admired Matt as a rockstar.

Sex certainly wouldn't be the glue that held them together. Matt had found it was less meaningful each time. There had to be more in a relationship.

"Guess who?" Asuka asked playfully covering Matt's eyes.

"There are only two of us in this room Asuka." Said Matt.

"Yeah, I know," said Asuka uncovering Matt's eyes, "So you want to do something together today?"

Asuka was wearing a thin tank top and her underwear.

"Mmmmmm, I have to leave today for the rest of the tour." Answered Matt, "In fact I should go soon."

"Oh…" said Asuka disappointed, "Well could I have your number then? I'd love to talk to you some more."

"Yeah, sure." Said Matt humoring her. He wrote down his number on a scrap of paper and gave it to her.

"Cool!" Asuka exclaimed.

"No problem." Said Matt. He wondered how many times she would call before she moved on.

________________________________________________________

Matt wasn't listening to his ipod because he was listening to something much more interesting. He had managed to get on the same bus with Mimi. She was singing to something on her ipod and Matt was enjoying the sound of her voice.

Matt looked around the bus. It was quite different from the one he usually rode in. there was a lot more open space and less seats. Near the back there was a karaoke machine and on the ceiling there was retractable roof that opened in the event that Mimi wanted to tan. There were other luxuries in the bus that Mimi insisted on having but Matt didn't know what all of them were.

Mimi was humming a lovely but unfamiliar tune.

"What are you listening to?" Matt asked.

"What?" Mimi asked taking off her headphones.

"I asked you what song you're listening to." Matt said.

"It's 'Heroes and Thieves' by that girl Vanessa Carlton." Mimi replied, "It's pretty catchy."

"Heroes and thieves at my door

I can't seem to tell them apart anymore

Just when I've figured it out

Darlin' it's you I'm without." She sang.

"That is pretty catchy." Matt admitted.

"So how have you been liking life on the road?" she asked, "We've had a few gigs now. Getting used to it yet?"

"More or less. I had this schedule before, the only difference is I'm sleeping in busses and hotels now instead of in my room."

"Well that's good. I had a pretty terrible time adjusting to this. On Zephyr Roses' first tour I lost like twenty pounds and was tired all the time. Life on tour was so exciting, I wouldn't set aside time to eat or drink"

"I've had those times. I remember when I was working nights and dating Sora. I'd work at night, go to school, play with my band, and still try and see her. I'd get maybe 25 or so hours of sleep a week."

"I still think it's funny you two went out and, now you live in her house, but she's married to someone else."

"It is kind of funny."

"Tai must trust you a lot to leave have you around the house with his wife. What with the relationship you two had. I know a lot of guys who would try and, you know, steal her back."

"It's not really like that with Sora and I. We had our time. It just wasn't the right sort of relationship for us to have."

"No second thoughts?"

"No. I just miss having that kind of relationship."

"It is nice to have someone." Mimi said, "Speaking of which I should probably check to see If Shawn texted me or anything. Mimi bent over to get her phone. Matt rubbed his hand on his forehand, trying to hide his annoyed expression. Mimi looked at her phone, laughed typed something then turned back to Matt.

"Sorry about that." Mimi apologized.

"It's alright." Said Matt, "Hey, you have a bruise or something on your back."

"Oh really. It's must be when I… fell down the stairs. Clumsy me!" Mimi laughed, "It's so hard to walk in those really high, high heels."

"Oh okay…"

"So are you looking forward to our gig in Tokyo?" Mimi asked.

"Yeah I am. A bunch of my friends are coming. Some I haven't seen in a while."

"Good! That's our last concert before we go to America. I can't wait to go there! It's always really fun to play there! Plus there's the shopping! I love American stores!"

"Cool, I haven't really been to America much."

"I'm sure you'll love it!"

________________________________________________________

Mimi had said Tokyo would be their biggest concert. Matt could easily see that. It was hard to tell where the crowd ended. The band was playing outside in an open area downtown. The music could be heard from blocks away. It was just starting to get dark and there were a few stars visible in the sky. Matt was having fun just watching the audience react to the music. He loved how emotional music was; then to see these emotions in people when he played.

The person he liked to watch the most though was Mimi. She looked like she got lost in her singing. She looked almost possessed. Her facial expressions changed in accordance with the music. During a sad song her face would become pale, and each word she sang seemed to come out only by great exertion. Then Mimi's face would become bright and sunny as ever as soon as the music changed tune.

The last notes of one of Mimi's song rang out through the air. Matt started to head offstage as the next few songs did not require guitar. Behind him he could hear Mimi introducing the next song the way she usually did. She was talking about one of her experiences on tour.

Matt took off his guitar and listened from backstage. He'd heard this story quite a few times now but didn't mind hearing it again. He was waiting to hear the familiar opening beat of the next song but he heard nothing. Mimi was usually very good about her transitions, making her a very good live performer. It was unusual to have any dead air time in her concerts.

Matt peeked out to see what was going on. Everyone was looking at the drummer. Matt looked too and saw him fiddling with his electronic drums, a frustrated look on his face.

"Someone get those drums working!" Kite shouted in an unusual show of emotion, "Which one of you roadies set up the drums? They're fired as soon as find them!"

Soon there was a group of roadies around the drums, trying to get them working.

"Can you believe this Ishida?" asked Kite rhetorically.

"No…" replied Matt.

"What are we going to do?" Kite asked no one in particular, "It's going to take at least five minutes to fix this! The show has to go on!"

"Umm, if I may. I think could help." Offered Matt.

"How?" asked Kite.

"Just get me a microphone." Said Matt.

"You better not disappoint me, Ishida." Said Kite, "You, get Mr. Ishida a microphone."

Matt took the microphone and walked onstage. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"Who's up for an acoustic set? Singers follow my lead." Matt said.

Matt put the microphone to his mouth and sang the opening line of the song. Understanding what was going on, Mimi joined him. The background singers came in behind them. Matt knew his voice wasn't always very good but right here singing with Mimi his voice sounded wonderful. Mimi and Matt's voices complemented each other so well they seemed to be one voice. The unified voice had the character of both Mimi and Matt's voices but it was different somehow.

The band finished the song performed entirely with vocals. The drummer even came in a little later with some beatboxing. All the vocalists joined hands and took a bow. The drums were working again so Matt went off the stage again. He wanted to sing with Mimi again. There was something almost magical about it.

________________________________________________________

After the show Matt got to see many of his old friends who came to see him. There was Joe and Izzy his old friends from high school. His brother T.K. came with some of his friends. Even Jun came with a bunch of her friends who used to adore Matt.

"So now you're a rockstar? I always knew you would be." Said Joe.

"Thanks, Joe. It's been a long journey but I'm finally here. How's the practice these days." Said Matt in response.

"Fine," said Joe, "The only real hard part of being a pediatrician is dealing with the overdramatic kids."

"Better than being a surgeon though, right?" asked Matt.

"Definitely. I'd never have the nerves to do that." Said Joe.

"Hey, Izz! Glad you could make it." Said Matt seeing Izzy coming up to him.

"It's good to see you again Matt. Are you still using that pedal I made for you?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah. It's my signature now. Companies are starting to ask to manufacture it. I told them to call you." Matt answered.

"Well I'll see if I can find the specs I made for it. I don't think I could oversee it with the computer engineering project I'm working on now." Said Izzy.

"Well, you work it out." Said Matt, "You're the genius."

"Good work bro! I knew you had it in you!" said T.K. from behind Matt.

"Thanks T.K. I," said Matt.

Matt was interrupted by Jun giving him a big hug.

"You were so awesome tonight, Matt! I loved to hear you sing you have a really great voice. Though I don't know if your guitar playing was better they were both really good!" Jun said speaking at over 100 words per minute, "Could you sign my shirt? I know you already did back in high school, but could you again?"

Matt took the pen and signed her shirt. Maybe if he did Jun would leave him alone for a little bit.

"Yay!" Jun shouted and went off to show her friends.

The paparazzi that surrounded Matt as he met with everyone suddenly seemed to swell. Matt understood why when Sora and Tai popped out from among the flashing cameras.

"Hey, you guys found time in your busy schedule to come see me! I'm honored. You remember Joe and Izzy right?" Said Matt as Tai and Sora approached.

"Yeah, hi guys. We should be honored. We're meeting big rockstar, Matt Ishida." Said Tai, "You know the papers in Odaiba are going crazy over you?"

"Yeah, I think you took the front page away from Tai and I. It's good though. You'd think the Odaiba Papers would have something better to report on than Tai getting a new car or building an addition to our house." Said Sora.

Matt laughed.

"I guess that was usually what they had on the front page normally." Said Matt.

"Well now you know what it's like. Having your every move monitored then put in some celebrity gossip magazine. That's fame for you." Said Tai.

"Well hopefully it'll be better in America where were touring next." Said Matt.

"I doubt it but I'll wish you luck." Said Tai giving Matt a pat on the back.

"Call us too! We miss our favorite houseguest." Said Sora.

"I'm sure I will." Replied Matt, "I should probably turn in I leave early tomorrow. Bye everyone!"

"Bye!" everyone with Matt said in return.

Matt walked up to his hotel room and put on "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas.

"I gotta feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night."

Matt smiled to himself. Tonight had been a good night.

________________________________________________________

**Next Chapter is 'Hello America!'**

**Thanks for reading!**


	8. Hello America!

**Hey hey everyone!**

**After various distractions and complications this story is back. **

**Thanks so much to reviewers: BlueFlower21, pink-strawberries, M M Forever, DarkAngelGaurd, lilanimegal00, and PrincessJaded! Six reviews? I think that's a new record for this story. It's be great to set another one for this chapter, hint, hint, *wink*.**

**Special dedication of this chapter to M M Forever. She has graciously allowed and helped me to use her character in this story. In addition she pre-read this story to edit it. Now I think this story is better than ever! Thanks so much M M Forever! You rock harder than Mount Rushmore and it's made of rock!**

**Well enough of this. I don't own digimon. I do own this story but I must give partial ownership to M M Forever for helping me with this.**

**Off we go, R&R!**

____________________________________________________

Matt took off the headphones on his head.

"Thanks so much for being here man." Said Dave Scott, a radio show host. "Hopefully you can hit up our radio station when you're in town again."

"Well we'll see." Said Matt.

"We got a lot of callers for this show segment, Matt. I think people really like you." Said Dave.

"I hope so." Replied Matt.

"Good luck to you man. I hope you have a good show here in Seattle. Don't forget to listen to our station. We're 103.3." said Dave.

"I will, thanks again."said Matt heading out the door.

"No, thank you." Said Dave in his deep radio persona voice.

Matt walked out of the radio station. He hoped he hadn't sounded too stupid. He had heard the radio show he was on had upwards of 80,000 listeners. That was a lot of people. He was encouraged that a lot of people called in. Matt always enjoyed talking with fans.

Matt checked his watch. It was only one in the afternoon. He had a few hours to kill before the whole band was supposed to appear at some media event. He couldn't remember quite what it was he just knew he'd need a suit.

He looked around the streets of Seattle. He wasn't really sure where to go. He'd never been to Seattle before. So he just walked around down the street. It was a nice day and Matt wanted to enjoy the city.

After walking for a while he found something that interested him, a music museum. Matt went in to take a look. The museum had some interesting stuff: a guitar sculpture, some instruments you could play around with and some rock artifacts. One of the things that particularly interested Matt was a Jimi Hendrix exhibit. He had forgotten Hendrix was from Seattle. Hendrix had been a favorite of his since Matt had started playing. Hendrix had such a unique style.

Matt was perusing the various items in the exhibit when he saw a pink flash out of the corner of his eye. Could it be?

"_No it couldn't be." _Matt tried to say to himself.

All the same he had to check. Matt peeked around the corner. Matt saw a woman wearing a red, white, and blue dress. On top of her head was a familiar neatly trimmed pink plume of hair.

"Mimi?" Matt asked the mystery girl.

The figure turned showing her face. She had sunglasses on but her face was still unmistakable.

"Matt!" exclaimed Mimi, "What are you doing here?"

"Just paying homage to one of the greats of guitar playing," Answered Matt, "What are you doing here?"

"Same thing. Honoring a great musician." Answered Mimi.

"I didn't know you liked Hendrix."

"Well I like all sorts of music. Classical, country, rock, pop, alternative. Anything that's good music."

"Wow I'm impressed."

"Thank you. How was your interview this afternoon?"

"Good, I think. I just hope I sounded okay. What'd you do this afternoon?"

"I had some photo shoot for a teen magazine for an article they're doing about me I have to host the teen music awards later this week you know."

"Teen music awards, eh?"

"Pretty funny, huh? You're going to have to be there too, you know. I'm singing 'sixteen' to kick off the show."

"Okay. I do have quite a bit of experience performing in front of screaming teenagers from high school."

"I barely ever went to class in high school. I spent all my time running around with my friends from Zephyr Roses. All we cared about was music. It's a good thing our music became popular. Otherwise I'd probably be washing dishes or something"

"Yeah? Well where's your fan club?" Matt asked "Usually there's always a crowd of people following you."

"I'm sorta trying to avoid them. That's why I'm wearing these sunglasses. Hopefully people won't recognize me."

"If you wanted to disguise yourself, you'd need a lot of hair dye or a razor. I'm pretty sure the only girl out there that has pink hair."

"Hmmm. Maybe I should get a hat. Speaking of clothes what are you wearing for the banquet dinner?"

"I dunno. I only have that one suit I brought. So I guess I'll wear that."

"But you wore that for the last big event. We should get you another one."

"What's wrong with wearing the same one?"

"Nothing if you want to look one dimensional. You need to show that you're more diverse than that. C'mon! Let's go shopping!"

____________________________________________________

Matt watched as Mimi sprinted around the store picking out things for Matt to try on. He had told Mimi she didn't need to do this. Mimi, however, was very insistent and Matt wasn't adamantly against spending time with her. So Matt followed Mimi to the mall. After a little of Matt's resistance when Mimi brought back shirts and ties, Matt would dutifully go to the changing room to try things Mimi told him too.

"This is so much fun! Aren't you having fun Matt?" Mimi asked sifting through a rack of shirts.

"Sure it is…" said Matt, "Though it'd be great if you decided on something soon. Do I have to try on everything in this store?"

Matt had never been that into dressing up. His usual wardrobe consisted of jeans and graphic or band tee shirts. When he wanted to dress up he put on a blazer.

"Well not everything. I'm just getting the good stuff for you." Said Mimi.

"But we've been at this for an hour. When are we going to be done?"

"When we get a good look at everything on you. Then we'll figure out which looked best."

"Everything? I barely remember what I last tried on."

"But I remember every one. Now why don't you try on this turquoise shirt. I think it's a winner!"

Matt sighed. Why'd he have to have a weakness for Mimi? He went dutifully to the dressing room. Mimi inspected him as he came back out.

"Hmmmm," Mimi looked on thoughtfully, "Stay right there!"

Mimi returned with a black tie. The tie had a few textured patterns and glass dots that shone under the light. Mimi fixed it to Matt's neck and stood back.

"Alright! That's a good one!" she exclaimed.

"So can we go now?" Matt asked hopefully.

"No, we have a bunch more stores to go to."

"Stores!?" Matt exclaimed.

He sighed as Mimi grabbed his arm and ran across the mall, shopping bags in hand.

____________________________________________________

"Alright, Mimi. We've been to all your stores now we're going somewhere I want to shop." Matt said getting into a taxi with Mimi, "Driver, take us to Northwest Guitars in Bellevue."

Matt entered the store and just took a whiff. It was good to be in a store that didn't smell like too much cologne and perfume, just the smell of aged wood and guitar polish.

"Wow there sure are a lot of guitars." Mimi said looking around the store.

"Yep, and we're not leaving till I try out at least as many guitars as clothes I did today." Said Matt.

"Fine. I'm going to go look at the acoustic guitars."

Matt loved being in guitar stores. It was like being a little kid in a candy store and just picking stuff to try. Each guitar was different in the way it felt and sounded. That's what Matt loved, like every guitar had it's own personality. After a while he decided to go check on Mimi.

Matt found her in a room with a bunch of acoustic guitars playing and singing.

"_I feel like I'm blind_

_There's this fog in my mind_

_That won't seem to clear_

_I want a reprieve_

_So that I can believe_

_That you're really here._" She sang as she strummed the strings on the guitar.

Matt grabbed a guitar and played along with her. Matt joined her singing at the chorus.

"_Where are you now?_

_I'm taking shots in the dark_

_Hoping one hits your heart_

_But I can't know for sure_

_Don't know if I can endure_

_Not seeing clearly where we are._"

Matt and Mimi finished the song singing in unison. They heard clapping as they stopped. Matt opened his eyes and noticed a small crowd had gathered around them to listen. Matt smiled and clapped too, occasionally stopping to point at Mimi. Mimi did the same for Matt.

"Not too shabby." Said Matt.

"Not at all." Replied Mimi, "Oh and I picked out something for you as a thank you for trying on all the clothes I brought for you."

Mimi leaned over and picked up a guitar case. She handed it to Matt.

"You didn't have to do this." Said Matt opening the case.

Inside was an electric guitar. The light from the store room reflected off it's sparkling pink exterior, giving it a iridescent pink glow. Matt eyed the guitar then looked up at Mimi. She snickered to herself.

"I really don't know what to say." Said Matt staring at the guitar and furrowing his eyebrows.

"Just say you'll use it at our next show!" said Mimi.

"No way." Said Matt shaking his head with a slight grin.

____________________________________________________

"Thanks for going shopping with me. It seems like Shawn and I never do that anymore." Mimi said stopping at her hotel room door.

"Well, it was fun, at times." Matt said holding all the 'gifts' Mimi had gotten for him.

"Yeah? Be sure to wear the outfit I got for you tonight!" said Mimi.

"Sure, sure."

"Thanks again," Mimi said, "I had a great time!"

Matt had been staring into Mimi's auburn eyes all while she was talking. Then after she finished talking, Matt leaned towards her and, without thinking, kissed her on the lips. Matt looked into her eyes again to see shock.

"I'm sorry," Matt started to apologize.

Mimi shut the door without saying another word.

"_Uuuhhhhh! That was so stupid!" _Matt kept thinking to himself as he pressed his fingers against his forehead. At the moment it felt right. Now with some hindsight Matt wished he could take it back. Matt knocked his knuckles against his head, wondering how he could have made such a huge blunder.

____________________________________________________

The banquet was to honor the anniversary of some sister record company to Sonic Revolution. It was mostly just a bunch of speeches and a presentation about the company's history. Matt was wearing the outfit Mimi picked out for him. He slouched back in his chair. Mimi was avoiding him. He couldn't blame her. He did come on pretty strong. Matt looked at her at another table. Mimi made eye contact with him but then looked away. Matt sighed. He felt like he had ruined something special.

After the show he tried to catch Mimi before she left. She managed to elude him, so Matt looked around for someone to spend the night with. He wouldn't be able to stand the torture going on in his mind alone.

Matt hit up a nearby bar and scanned the room for prospects. He saw something he liked and sat next to her.

"Hey, can I buy you a drink?" Matt asked her.

The girl turned and her long brown hair glided from her back onto her shoulder. She was well proportioned and her blue-green eyes glittered in the light.

"Depends on who's asking," She said, "Hey are you Matt Ishida? The guitarist from Mimi Tachikawa's band?"

"Guilty as charged." Replied Matt.

"In that case, sure, that'd be great. Just a Strawberry Daiquiri'll be fine."

Matt signaled the bartender for the drink and ordered a shot of whiskey for himself.

"So what brings you to the bar?"

"Just looking for some company."

"Thank you," Said the girl to the bartender then taking a sip of her drink, "Looks like you found some, I'm Heather by the way."

"Good to meet you, Heather." Matt said.

"So since when does a rockstar like you need to find company? Shouldn't people be flocking to you?" Heather asked.

"Well the company I was hoping for is sort of not talking to me."

"What do you mean? Who?"

"Mimi Tachikawa." Matt said sheepishly.

"Mimi? Wow, shooting for the moon are we?"

"Yeah, I think we might have something though and I don't know that I've felt this way about anyone in a long time."

"What happened with you two?"

"I sorta kissed her. I don't think she returned my feelings because she slammed the door in my face after that. Now she's avoiding me."

"You did come on pretty strong. Why don't you tell me more about how you and her have interacted?"

"Okay.."

Matt started from when he met Mimi at the party. Heather listened intently. Matt finally finished at where they were now.

"That Shawn guy sounds like a real pain." Commented Heather, "But I wouldn't tell Mimi that. It won't win any points with her right now."

"Okay. Well enough about me. What about you?" Matt asked.

"Well I'm studying to be a music major right now."

"Music major, eh? Do you think you'd like to come up to my hotel room and help me with one of my songs?"

"That sounds great!" said Heather excitedly.

____________________________________________________

Inside the hotel room, Matt rummaged through some stuff looking for his notebook. Heather wandered around the room looking at various odds and ends.

"Hey is that a burn mark on your arm?" Matt asked as papers flew around him.

"Yeah, it is. I got some boiling hot soup spilled on me when I was little." answered Heather.

"Why didn't you get surgery or something to have it removed? Don't you worry about what people will think?" Asked Matt.

"Not at all. People do stare at me some but I believe what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," said Heather with confidence, "This should mean I'm stronger than most people."

"Hmm alright." Matt said.

Matt noticed that Heather made no conscious effort to hide her mark now that he' mentioned it. Heather did seem strong. Matt envied her confidence. He'd been at the mercy of what people thought after being in the music business for so long. He wished he could confidently come out as himself more.

HIs thoughts were interrupted when he found his notebook.

"Here's what I've got so far." Matt said handing her the notebook.

Heather scanned the lines critically.

"It looks alright but now let me hear it." Heather said handing the notebook back to Matt.

"Okay," Matt said grabbing a guitar.

Matt cleared his throat, closed his eyes, and strummed the guitar. He hummed a melody for an intro then opened his mouth to sing.

"_I lost myself at your show last night_

_Looking at the sparkling eyes_

_In the middle of a fresher crowd_

_You keep living like you're a movie star_

_But tell me who you really are_

_When the lights go down_

_Baby you're a glitter doll_

_On the radio_

_I dissolve in the stereo_

_You've got me_

_You've got me coming back for more._"

"Well that's all I've got for now. I'm stuck on what to do for a chorus." Said Matt

"Hmmmm. Mimi's nickname is the princess of pop right?" Heather asked.

"Yeah?"

"Well how about pop princess?" thought Heather aloud, "Tell what you think of this: Pop princess hold my hand, pop princess I'm a fan."

Matt repeated the words a few times.

"That sounds good." Said Matt writing things down in his notebook.

"Then maybe: Pop Princess I need you now, pop princess make me smile, pop princess drive me wild."

"I'd like it if we rhymed 'now' with something."

Matt started to try to think of something saying the suffix: '-ow' with different starting letters. Matt finally settled on 'out'.

"Freak me out?" suggested Matt.

"Turn me inside out!" Heather said in reply.

"I like that!" said Matt writing the words down.

Heather and Matt kept going back and forth with lines for lyrics. After they were satisfied with a few bars, Matt would try to play something on the guitar to go with it. Matt was enjoying this. Usually Matt wrote lyrics alone and always felt self-conscious about his lyrics. Now that he had someone to collaborate with writing was much easier.

"Okay let's try the chorus again." said Matt.

Matt started playing his guitar. He and Heather sang together. The sound of their voices was like Matt and Mimi's but unique in it's own way.

"That sounds great Matt. I can't wait to hear it when you record it for real. You're really talented" Said Heather sitting down next to Matt.

"Yeah," said Matt, "Thanks for your help."

Heather rocked side to side humming the melody from Matt's song. Matt put down his guitar and put his hand on Heather's neck. He pulled her closer as he moved closer himself. Their lips met, Matt closed his eyes to savor it. Heather dealt with the situation much differently. Her eyes were wide open and she pulled away as fast as she could.

"Whoa! What do you think you're doing?!" Heather exclaimed.

"Well, I just thought…. I thought that was why you came with me." Answered Matt scratching his head.

"I came with you to help you with your song! I like you Matt, but not like that. I'm saving myself for the right guy." Said Heather.

"I'm sorry," Apologized Matt, "I guess I've been hanging around with groupies too much. I forgot that there's some self-respecting girls in the world."

"It's okay. Just don't do that again," said Heather, "You know you shouldn't be hanging around groupies if you want to win Mimi. Girls don't really like their guys to have umm… 'other interests'."

"Oh, you're probably right," Matt admitted, "Though right now I'm not quite sure if I can even win her over."

"Look, Matt," Heather said sitting down next to Matt again, "If you want to win Mimi over you have to first, apologize. You have to realize you can't just act on your own feelings you have to consider Mimi's feelings and respect them."

"Alright…"

"Then just be honest with her about how you feel. Then leave it up to her to decide the future of the relationship. If she wants just to be friends just leave it at that."

"You really think that'll work?" asked Matt.

"Yeah. I'm a girl aren't I?" answered Heather.

"Yeah," Agreed Matt, "So you want to stay here for the night?"

"No, I don't think so. I should go anyway to let you think."

"If you say so. Thanks for all your help. Thanks to you things are starting to look better." Matt said.

"Anytime. Call me and let me know how things go okay?" said Heather.

"Sure thing."

"Then I'll talk to you later." Said Heather heading out the door.

"Bye." Said Matt.

"Bye." Heather said as the door closed

Matt heard a "Good luck!" echo through the hallway. Heather was gone. He sighed and considered what had just happened. He had gotten much more than he bargained for. He'd just been looking for a distraction to forget about his complicated situation. Now instead of a distraction he had hope that everything might still turn out right.

_"That was way better than any groupie I've been with," _Matt thought to himself.

Matt mulled over Heather's advice.

_"Will it work?" _Matt asked himself.

____________________________________________________

**Hmmm, an interesting question Matt. Guess we'll have to find out the answer next time.**

**Please let me know what you thought. As iron sharpens iron, so other writers opinions sharpen writing.**

**Thanks for reading! And thanks again to M M Forever!**


	9. Making up is hard to do

**It's that time again, update!**

**Thank you to: Digimon122, DarkAngelGuard, I'm Right Here, lilanimegal00, and ~inori for reviewing. Your reviews are as sweet as chocolate covered in honey.**

**I don't own digimon much to my chagrin**

**Hope you like it, R&R **

___________________________________________________________

The door stood ominously before him. He should have done this before. But Mimi had always been with some else. Matt really wanted to speak to Mimi alone. That and Matt had been a little reluctant to speak to her. He was a little afraid of what would happen. It would kill him to be rejected by someone he cared about so much. But this was how it had to be. Otherwise the two of them might never speak again.

Things between them were pretty icy right now. Mimi and he mostly avoided each other, even refusing eye contact. The part in the show where Matt and Mimi sang together turned out badly. The connection between Matt and Mimi seemed severed. Their two voices weren't together. The timing was off and so were the notes. Kite threatened to take the part out of the show if things didn't change.

Finally Matt took his fist and hit it against the wood of the door. Matt stepped back and tried to listen for stirring in Mimi's room. He waited for what seemed like an eternity. A cold sweat formed on his brow. Matt tapped his foot nervously on the ground.

Matt checked his watch. It had been five minutes.

"Mimi?" Matt called through the door, "It's me Matt. I guess you don't really want to talk to me right now. But I just wanted to say,"

Matt rubbed the back of his neck. It was now or never.

"I'm really sorry for coming on like I did. That was wrong of me. You deserve more respect than that. I just really like you. And…"

Matt paused. It had been a long time since he admitted to having feelings for a girl, real feelings at least. Matt didn't like putting his heart on the line. If the risk paid off though, it would be worth it.

"It would mean the world to me if you returned those feelings. But it's up to you what happens between us. If you want us just to be friends, I'm all right with that. I won't push you into anything. Just know that I love you, Mimi."

Matt waited at the door a little longer. Not a sound. He sighed and sat down on a chair sitting in the lobby. Matt heard a familiar guitar riff and picked up his phone. It was Heather.

"Hi Heather." Matt said with sadness in his voice.

"Hey Matt! Have you talked to Mimi?" Heather asked.

"Yeah I did." Said Matt.

"And?"

"I don't think she wants to see me. I knocked on her door but no one answered. I apologized and everything but still no one came."

"Are you sure she was in her room?"

"Yeah, I heard her say she was going straight to her room when she was in the hotel lobby. She might have been sleeping but I knocked pretty loud."

"Well I'm sorry things didn't go well."

"Matt?" came a high voice from Matt's side.

"Aaahh!" Matt exclaimed. He hadn't noticed anyone next to him.

"What is it Matt?" Heather asked.

"Mimi's right here. I'm gonna need to call back." Matt said into the phone.

"Go get her!" said Heather.

Matt hung up the phone and turned to Mimi. She was stooping over him. In her high heels Mimi seemed dauntingly tall. She wore a sleek black dress, which made her hair seem radiant in comparison.

As Matt stood up, Mimi was still a bit taller than him. He didn't notice it as he was staring at the ground.

"Mimi, I," Matt started to say.

He felt a hand on his chin lifting his head upward. Matt looked away from Mimi's face but couldn't keep his eyes from hers forever. Unexpectedly Matt found he was looking into a warm smiling face.

"I heard everything, Matt," Said Mimi, "I sort of moved my room after that little incident."

"So does that mean we're okay?" asked Matt hopefully.

"Oh, we're better than that. Truth is I like you a lot too," She said to Matt's delight.

"Wait, I'm confused. Then why'd you slam the door in my face earlier? Why have you been avoiding me?" Matt asked.

"Come on to my room, sweetie. I'll explain."

Matt was still a little suspicious. This seemed too good to be true and did Mimi just call him sweetie? She seemed to be acting a little strange. However, Matt had gotten an invitation to Mimi's room, an honor he'd never received before.

He followed Mimi down the hall. Mimi opened the door to her room.

"Whoa!" she shouted stumbling into her room, "These heels are hard to walk in!"

Walking into Mimi's room. Matt felt like he was back in a department store at the mall. There were clothes and various accessories everywhere. The closet was overstuffed with dresses; there were hats and sunglasses all over Mimi's counter. Matt had a hard time getting over the, at least fifty pairs of shoes Mimi had by the door.

" So what's this all about?" Matt asked curiously.

"I closed the door on you because the what you did was so sudden and unexpected. The rest of the time, I was deciding how to react. Now I know." Said Mimi.

Mimi leaned in moving her lips closer to Matt's. Matt couldn't refuse. He finally got what he had wanted. He was kissing Mimi and she was kissing back. Matt melted in the feeling of her soft lips on his own. Mimi clapped her hands twice still in Matt's embrace. The lights dimmed, the city lights shone lightly through the blinds.

For a moment Matt worried about what Shawn would think, but only a moment.

___________________________________________________________

Matt woke up and didn't recognize the room. He sat up to look around. His eyes were greeted with various fashions and accessories.

_"Mimi's room that's right." _Matt remembered.

What a night he had had, spending it with the girl of his dreams. Despite his impulses Matt hadn't slept with Mimi. Matt wanted to save it this time, then hopefully it would be special.

"Mimi?" Matt questioned wondering whether she was in the room. Matt got up and stretched. He looked into the room where Mimi had been sleeping. Maybe she still was. He was disappointed to find the bed empty. The bathroom was empty. It appeared Mimi had left.

Matt walked sat down on a stool in the kitchen. He let what had happened last night sink in. Mimi said she loved him. Matt replayed it in his mind. This changed everything. He couldn't wait to see her.

___________________________________________________________

Backstage, Matt was preparing for the night's show in his room. Mimi had been on his mind all day. Yet despite his best efforts he hadn't been able to get a hold of her. Matt understood though. Mimi was a very busy person. Matt was pretty busy too. Though he thought that after last night they would have been able to work something out.

He sighed and turned his mind to the situation at hand. Matt surveyed the vast number of guitars that lay strewn on the floor and hang on the wall.

_"Which one should I use today?" _He wondered to himself.

Matt spotted the pink guitar Mimi had given him. He considered it for a second but decided against it. Instead Matt picked up a blonde telecaster. He was shooting for an endorsement deal with Fender.

_"I'll use Mimi's guitar later." _

Outside, Matt went to the prep room where everyone was getting ready for the show. This was always Matt's least favorite part of the show. He sat down and a bunch of attendants rushed over to him. One of them started messing with Matt's hair and another put a thin layer of make-up on him. Matt just held still and waited for it to be over.

Mimi was a few seats over from him. He waited till his cosmetics were done then walked over to her. At least he wasn't a girl. There was so much backstage work the attendants did on them, Mimi especially.

"How you doing?" Matt asked.

"Good I think," replied Mimi, "How do I look?"

"Amazing," replied Matt, "Except one of your stars fell out."

Matt reached down to pick it up. When Matt had it in his hand he delicately placed it back in her hair.

"Thanks Matt," Mimi said, "I swear these things are more trouble than they're worth. But it's my trademark look now, so I have to stick with it."

"So what's first on the set list?" Matt asked.

"We're doing a cover of a song from 'The Little Mermaid'. Remember the one we rehearsed? 'Kiss the Girl'?"

"Oh, yeah. I love to hear you sing that one and it seems appropriate after last night."

"Um, Matt? About last night…."

"Come on people let's get out there!" Kite shouted in the prep room, "These people paid for a show and there's going to be a riot if we don't give them one."

"Matt I…" Mimi started to say.

"Let's go! Let's go!" Kite shouted clapping his hands.

Mimi got up to go onstage with the rest of the band. Matt followed wondering what she was talking about. He soon forgot about it when he got onstage where he just concentrated on the music.

The lights came on and the band started playing. The crowd let out a cheer that sent goose bumps down Matt's arms. He never got over the thrill of playing for an n audience like this.

_"There you see her_

_Sitting across the way_

_She don't got a lot to say_

_But there's something about her_

_And you don't know why_

_But you're dying to try_

_You wanna kiss the girl"_

Mimi was in fine form tonight. Matt had heard her sing enough times to know when she was on or not. Tonight, Mimi was definitely on. Her voice was passionate and dynamic. She sang with conviction, like she meant every word.

Matt couldn't keep is eyes off her. She seemed perfect with the stage lights on her singing her heart out. The two made eye contact. Matt smiled; Mimi gave a small one in return but suddenly turned away. Matt shrugged and kept playing.

_"Sing with me now!_

_Sha-la-la-la-la_

_My oh my_

_Looks like the boy's too shy_

_He ain't gonna kiss the girl_

_Sha-la-la-la-la_

_Ain't it sad?_

_Ain't that a shame, too bad_

_You gonna miss the girl!"_

____________________________________________________________  
_

Mimi continued with her awe-inspiring form during the whole performance. It was so inspiring Matt decided he had to see her. Matt followed her after the concert. Mimi weaved through the backstage to her limo outside. Cameras were flashing all around as soon as they got outside. Mimi still hadn't turned around to see Matt behind her.

The driver of the limousine opened the door for Mimi and she stepped in. Matt hurried over to the door and got in before the driver closed the door. The driver eyed him for a second, recognized him from the band, then closed the door.

"Hey Meems." Said Matt.

"Oh hi, Matt" said Mimi.

"You did an awesome job tonight" Commented Matt moving closer to Mimi in the limousine, "So can I come over like last night?"

"Look, Matt, about what happened last night…"

Mimi moved a little away from Matt. Matt frowned and waited for Mimi to say more.

"Last night I was kind of drunk," Said Mimi quietly, "It's hard for me to even remember some of the things that happened last night."

"Oh…."

It made sense. It would explain some of Mimi's strange mannerisms last night. But was that all that had gone on last night? Was what happened just the result of Mimi's drunken stupor?

"What did I say?" asked Mimi.

"You," Matt mumbled, "You told me you loved me."

Matt felt foolish saying it. He felt like being told his favorite TV show wasn't real. He suddenly wished he hadn't chased Mimi into the limo.

"Really? Oh…" Mimi said softly.

For a long time there was just the sound of air rushing around the limo and the tires on the road. Both Matt and Mimi tried to think of something to say, but were reluctant to speak what they thought of.

Finally Matt couldn't stand it any longer.

"So what happened last night…. Wasn't real?"

"I don't know Matt. Maybe there is something there. I'm a little confused. In case you haven't noticed I am in a relationship."

Matt had almost forgotten, in the rush of things, about Shawn.

"I do kind of like you, Matt. You're a really nice guy. But my love belongs to someone else right now."

Neither of them made eye contact. Matt would look over occasionally with his peripherals but tried not to look at Mimi's face.

"What should we do?" Matt asked still not daring to look at Mimi directly.

"Like I said, I don't really know. For now just give me some space. I need time to sort this out." Replied Mimi.

They rode the rest of the way in silence. Millions of thoughts were racing through Matt's mind. They rushed around trying to find requiem from the chaos, a solution. Though all the while one feeling dominated his mind, a painful, empty in his heart. He'd had the girl of his dreams for less than a day. Now it looked like it might be over Whoever said it was better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all could eat shit, as far as Matt was concerned.

___________________________________________________________

**Aw poor Matt. in the words of Def Leppard, who I'm going to see in a week or so, "Love Bites". **

**Let me know what you thought! You've no idea how much they help me. I get so much inspiration and ideas from them.**

**I may not update for a bit as I'm going to be in New York for a week to catch the US OPEN. Sweet!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	10. The Blues

**Wow..... sorry this took like an eternity**

**School's keeping me pretty busy unfortunately :P stupid college......**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed: PrincessJaded, I'm Right Here, lilanimegal00, and BlueFlower21, you're awesome amazazing! (I can tell it's been a while because i used to have how to write your names memorized)**

**anyhow i hope you enjoy, and if you don't tell me why!**

* * *

All the lights in the stadium went out but one. The one light shone on Matt who cradled his guitar's neck in his hand. They'd reached the part of the show for Matt's solo. He stared at the ground considering what he would do tonight. Matt had gotten to the point where he could hear what he would play before he could play it. Whatever was in his head came out onto his strings.

First what came from Matt's guitar was sad and almost a little dark. The melodies were slow and bittersweet. His lines started sweet but ended on a note that sent a shiver down your spine. Matt was thinking of the time he spent with Mimi. He was glad for it but disappointed for how it turned out.

The mood of Matt's music turned darker as he hit a hard power chord. Matt gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. His amps spit out flurries of distorted notes. He was still thinking of Mimi but now he was angry. It didn't seem fair to him that the he and Mimi should be apart. In the time he and Mimi spent together they seemed to get along so well. He'd never felt that any girl was as special as Mimi. He was certainly a better option than Shawn. At the thought of him Matt played a minor scale run to a horribly dissonant chord.

As his last chord hung in the air Matt noticed an audible difference in the cheers he was receiving. He usually received more. Matt knew that is was probably because this wasn't as cheerful as what he usually played for his solos. He didn't care though. This was the one time during the show he got to truly express himself.

He did end up throwing the crowd a bone playing some lighter, hopeful strings of notes. Matt, himself was hopeful though. Hopeful, that Mimi would finally return his affection in a real way. The two hadn't spoken for about a week. Matt had really wanted to but knew he needed to give Mimi her space.

The last note of Matt's solo hung in the air along with the vocal adulation of the crowd. Matt went into a guitar riff then stopped abruptly as the final light went out. The lights came back on and Mimi was back onstage with the rest of the band. Matt tried not to make eye contact with Mimi.

* * *

The light from the sun was making Matt's eyes hurt a bit. He'd just woken up and it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The after concert party had gone for a while and he'd stayed up for a while waiting for a knock on the door from Mimi. It was starting to drive him crazy that he couldn't talk to her.

Right now Matt was out on the streets of Los Angeles with five hundred dollars of cash in his packet. He put on a pair of sunglasses so he would be harder to recognize and because of the sun. Matt was doing something he had started a habit of doing while on tour. He would wander around the city looking for street musicians. If he saw one he liked he'd give some of the money in his pocket away. It was something Matt enjoyed because he got to here some artists' creativity and he liked to support musicians.

There was a vocal quartet that got one hundred dollars of Matt's money. Then Matt gave fifty dollars to a girl playing her violin. A jazz trio earned one hundred dollars fro him as well as a man playing drumbeats on pieces of trash.

Matt was walking through a park when he heard the sounds of an acoustic guitar playing the rolling melody of a familiar tune. He walked toward the noise of the resonating strings to a man sitting on a park bench. He was wearing an olive green fedora and had a similarly colored blazer. His face was roughly shaven like he didn't have a real razor to shave with. The guitar he was playing hung from his makeshift strap made only of a single piece of string. The instrument was colored a honey sunburst but had the wear of an aged instrument. The guitarist closed his eyes allowing him to concentrate only on what he was hearing. Matt did the same and allowed just the unadulterated hum of the man's song fill his senses.

"Many times I've loved, and many times been bitten, many times I've gazed along the open road. Many times I've lied and many times I've listened, many times I've wondered how much there is to know. Many dreams come true and some have silver linings, I live for the dream and a pocket full of gold." Sang the man in a passionate blues voice.

The rest of Matt's money went in the man's guitar case. After placing his money there Matt took a seat next to the man on the wooden bench.

"Mellow is the man who knows what he's been missing, many many men can't see the open road." Matt sang with the man who didn't even seem to notice Matt. That was fine as far as Matt was concerned.

The noise of the guitar rose building towards a climax. Hearing this growth in musical tension Matt reached for the harmonica in his other pocket. The guitarist hit the consummating chord and Matt started to play a harmonica solo. At that moment Matt wouldn't have cared if he were blind. It was enough to be lost in the notes and harmony coming out as he was playing.

The jam session ended as the guitarist began to slow down. Matt sensed the end was coming and hit the last note with him.

"That was some pretty impressive playing there, son." Said the man with the guitar.

"Oh thanks." Said Matt rubbing the back of his neck. He'd never been very good at taking compliments.

"You must have the blues." said the man.

"Oh yeah sort of…" muttered Matt, "I'm Matt by the way."

"Lazarus," Said the man giving Matt a firm handshake, "So what's on your mind?"

Matt wasn't sure if he should tell this man. He didn't really even know him. But what harm could it really do, Lazarus didn't know him either.

"It's this girl." Matt finally admitted.

"Ah, the root of many men's problems," Lazarus said nodding, "What's her name?"

"Mimi Tachikawa." Said Matt with a little sadness in his voice, "You've probably heard of her."

"Can't say that I have." said Lazarus looking off into the distance thinking, "Actually I may have seen her on a billboard."

"You think I'm crazy don't you?" asked Matt believing that he might be.

"Well let me first ask you something. There are thousands maybe millions of guys who wish they were the man next to her. Do you love her because you want to please yourself or because you want the best for her? I'm pretty sure most guys only want her to make themselves happy." said Lazarus looking Matt straight in the eye.

"I do care about her." Matt said after a short pause.

"Then no you're not crazy." said Lazarus.

"But she's with some guy that doesn't care about her. It doesn't seem fair." said Matt with a hint of anger in his voice.

"The world isn't always fair, son," Lazarus said plainly, "But you just keep caring for her and if she's really as great a girl as you think she'll see it."

"Yeah, alright," sighed Matt.

With that Matt put his lips back onto his harmonica and played the blues.

* * *

Steam rose from around Mimi's hotel kitchenette. She observed each pot and pan making sure everything was going well in each. When there was something wrong she intervened by adding some more of another ingredient or stirring the mixture. She loved cooking. If she hadn't gotten so famous for her singing she probably would have gone into it professionally.

She took a quick glance over at Shawn, watching a football game on TV. It had been about a week since they'd seen each other last and a lot longer since Mimi had cooked for him. The mixture she was whipping up now was something new. She was excited to see how it would turn out. She had some pork tenderloin cooking with a sauce made from some of the meat's juices, mushrooms, and a few spices. Beside the sauce in her pot she was frying some zucchini in another sauce she'd made.

The smell of her work wafted up to Mimi's nose. She took a big sniff and was satisfied. She took her pork tenderloin out of the oven and poured her sauce on it. Then she took her zucchini off from the hot stove, still sizzling. Then for the finishing touch Mimi scooped out two scoops of rice from a rice cooker.

"Dinner's ready!" shouted Mimi to Shawn who was still on the couch.

"Dinner's ready!" Mimi repeated, after being ignored the first time. After this yielded no response she crept up behind Shawn and started massaging his shoulders.

"Mmm that feels nice." Said Shawn relaxing into his position sitting down, "You have no idea what my week has been like."

"Well you can tell me about it over dinner. I made something special!" said Mimi excitedly.

"Oh…" said Shawn surprised, "You shouldn't have."

"It's no problem I actually enjoy doing it." Said Mimi, "C'mon, everything is ready!"

"No," said Shown not moving from his seat, "I mean you actually shouldn't have. I have to go to one of my friend's birthday dinners. I thought I told you about that."

"Um, no you didn't," said Mimi looking at the food she had just made disappointedly.

"Oh, don't be like that," said Shawn getting up to comfort Mimi, "I'll just go to say hi, then we'll sort of split off from the rest of the group a little bit. How's that sound?"

"Hmm…" Mimi looked down and saw Shawn's hands wrapping around her waist. With a sigh she said, "Alright, where is it?"

"You're the best babe!" said Shawn, "It's downtown, we'll go in an hour."

* * *

At the restaurant Mimi wasn't spending as much time with Shawn as she had wanted. He was spending what seemed like a long time talking to other people. Of course Mimi had people to talk to but she really just wanted to spend time with her special someone. Right now she was excited because Shawn and her finally had a table a little ways off from the main group. She sat down and waited for Shawn to join her.

"Alright, I'll call you later Kelsey!" Shawn called across the restaurant to Mimi.

"Make sure you do!" shouted Kelsey in the same fashion then blowing a kiss.

"Who was that?" asked Mimi as Shawn sat down.

"Just some girl, I've worked with in a few films." Said Shawn.

"Well this is nice," commented Mimi looking around her, "We practically have the restaurant to ourselves over here, huh?"

Mimi turned and looked at Shawn. He was looking back at the direction of the party.

"Shawn!" shouted Mimi.

"Huh? What is it babe?" asked Shawn turning to look at Mimi.

"Uh, I was talking to you?" stated Mimi slightly annoyed.

"I'm sorry, I just got a little distracted." Apologized Shawn, putting his hand on top of hers.

"It's okay." Said Mimi, "Just don't let happen again."

"Deal." Said Shawn.

However, untrue to his word, Shawn didn't always listen when Mimi was talking. Even when he was looking at her he didn't respond to things Mimi asked. She would generally forgive him but each time she got a little more irritated.

"Shawn, do you just not want to spend time with me?" Mimi finally asked, frustration finally getting the better of her.

"No, of course I want to spend time with you!" said Shawn.

"Then why aren't you listening to me?" Mimi demanded.

"I am listening to you." Argued Shawn.

"Then what was I just talking about?" asked Mimi crossing her arms.

"You were talking about your new line of clothing, right?"

"Yeah like ten minutes ago," said Mimi angrily, "I was talking about who was going to pay!"

"Oh, right."

"Listen to me, kay? So I was saying I would pay for the meal." Said Mimi, "I just got a bonus from my record company."

"Oh, come on let me get it." Said Shawn.

"No I got it, I've got plenty of money." Said Mimi.

"What are you saying I don't?" asked Shawn not happy about the implication.

"Well, I do make more than you do," Said Mimi in jest "Ow!"

Mimi's hand rushed to her face where she'd been hit. She saw Shawn's hand on the opposite side of her face from where she had been hit.

"I thought I told you never to talk about that." said Shawn in a low voice.

"I was just kidding!" said Mimi angrily at him, "Geez, you didn't have to hit me. You never have to hit me. I thought you were seeing someone about your anger issues!"

"I don't need that," responded Shawn, "Nothing's wrong with me! You just learn not to make me angry."

"You know what Shawn I have had enough!" stated Mimi, packing up some stuff into her purse, "I'm leaving Shawn! And I'm not coming back till you learn to control yourself!"

With that Mimi turned to leave. She took a step but found she couldn't take another.

"Shawn! Let go of my arm!" demanded Mimi. She struggled to break away but Shawn's muscles were not just for show. He had an iron grip on Mimi's forearm.

"Stop it Shawn! Let me go!" ordered Mimi in vain. She was about to scream for help but Shawn covered her mouth.

* * *

In another part of the restaurant the party was going well. People were drinking, dancing and having a good time. No one really noticed the blonde haired man drinking alone in the corner. He didn't really know why he was there. He'd been invited with one of his bandmates. He'd been abandoned for someone else as soon as they arrived. So Matt decided he'd have a few drinks then go somewhere else. Most everyone here ignored him.

As he sat there he couldn't help hearing some of the conversations going on. People talked about the latest celebrity gossip and other things of that sort. He mostly just tuned in and out but he heard Mimi's name uttered. Instantly his ears perked up.

"Yeah, Mimi Tachikawa ate the whole 20 oz. steak." Said one girl.

"Wow, how does she eat so much and still stay skinny." Said the other.

"I bet she's bulimic," Said the first girl, "You can't put that much in and still have a rockin' body like hers."

"Yeah, totally. Isn't she in town?" asked the second girl.

"Uh-huh," said the first girl, "She's actually at this party. In one of the other rooms I think."

"Probably throwing up!" said the second girl laughing.

"Yeah!" laughed the first girl.

Inside his head Matt started to debate whether he should talk to Mimi. On the one hand he didn't want to seem like he was obsessed with her, but he really did want to talk to her. Matt considered the proposition in his mind. Eventually, after staring into his glass he decided he'd just go and say "hi" and congratulate her on her performance last night. Lifting his glass, he took a sip of liquid courage and went to find Mimi.

After weaving his way through the crowd Matt found the door for one of the private rooms. He'd already been to one where people were doing drugs and was hoping for a better result from this one. When he peaked into the room, it was fairly empty as far as people were concerned. Soon he spotted a pile of pink fluff, unmistakably Mimi.

"Hey Mimi, I just wanted to stop by and…" Matt started to say but he noticed Mimi was moving strangely. Then he saw her turn her head. Her mouth was covered but her eyes screamed to him for help. Matt realized she was struggling with Shawn.

"Get off her Shawn!" shouted Matt running over to him.

"Yeah, what are you gonna do prick?" asked Shawn.

In response Matt threw his fist with all his might at Shawn. Shawn caught it with his hand and pushed it away. Shawn threw Mimi away and focused his attention on Matt.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time," said Shawn, rolling up his sleeves, "Trying to steal my girl."

"You don't deserve her!" shouted Matt.

"Yeah, well the only thing you deserve is this!" said Shawn aiming his fist at Matt's face. Mat tried to block it with his arm, but Shawn was too strong. It wasn't a clean hit but it still did its damage. The fight went on with Matt not able to land a good a=blow on Shawn. Shawn, however, was able to hit Matt fairly easily. Mat kept his guard up around his face but got hit just about everywhere else. Matt let his guard down just for a second to block one of Shawn's hands. That was all Shawn needed. With his other hand he punched Matt in the side of the head.

Matt fell to the ground. He saw the lights above him then it faded to nothing but black.

* * *

**There you go! Please tell me what you thought of that because i am missing the days when i would get regular e-mails from this site :( that and it'll make this story better. **

**Quick ads:**

** Check out this new fanfic site my friend started: darkvixen(dot)freehostia(dot)com it's pretty cool**

**If you like Taiora, which everyone should, check out I'm Right Here's: "remembering me" it's a great story and very well written :)**

**thanks for reading!**


End file.
